


save the last dance for me

by lunaticmeap



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Dysfunctional Relationships, Family Issues, Flight Instructor!Shiro, Fluff, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, M/M, Office Worker!Keith, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Rating May Change, Self-Esteem Issues, Something in the Rain AU, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24248017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaticmeap/pseuds/lunaticmeap
Summary: Shiro returns to Daibazaal after a myriad of events that gave him more scars than he ever asked for, and a divorce that his mother had no issue to remind him of too regularly. But at least he was getting somewhere in life, with every step leading him back to the cockpit of a spaceship with the Intergalactic Aeronautical Administration.Keith is overworked, tired twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and doesn't know what life outside work is for the past decade, nor is he actively seeking that balance despite the pleas of his sister and his best friend. It was the best that it could ever get, he thinks, and it was the best he'll ever have ever since he gave up his dreams.18 years after they had first met, they meet again on a warm October day to find the one thing they didn't expect to.(Or a Something In The Rain AU that nobody asked for but i wrote it anyways).
Relationships: Keith & Romelle (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Ryou & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 32





	1. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find each other in a park on a warm autumn afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off the 'Something In The Rain' K-drama, with a lot of major changes regarding plot and character to fit in with the personalities of VLD's characters. You don't have to watch the the K-drama to read this, but I will occasionally put notes into the end notes to explain certain aspects of the world building (just to clarify where i feel like I lacked clarity).

Shiro breathed a long sigh at the giant suitcases and boxes now sitting in the middle of his room, which had taken _way_ too much effort to drag it from the parking up to the family’s apartment and into his room. He might have packed too much when he decided to come back to Daibazaal1, but then again, he wasn’t planning on going back to Altea for a while – at least not until his contract with the school ends.

“Is that the last of your stuff?” Ryou kicked the door open with his feet and strode in with the final box of Shiro’s stuff. He had only brought back two suitcases and two boxes worth of stuff that were important, such as his various photo albums (because he’s old school like that), documents, his divorce papers, and some other small memorabilia that were accumulated from his years in Fala1.

Shiro nodded at Ryou, who dramatically stretched his spine and headed out of the room.

It had been eighteen years since he had settled back in Daibazaal, and the city doesn’t feel like it had changed much since he left it. Shiro spent the entire car ride back home looking out the window, to the various skyscrapers that were still old, but now polished with different logos and signs as businesses rise and fall through the years. The old ice-cream shop that they always passed by on their drive back home was still there, but the person behind the counter didn’t look like old Mr. Jenkins who was seventy-eight (last Shiro checked) and cracked lots of great jokes. Shiro guessed that his bad hip had finally groaned for the last time and Mr. Jenkins could ignore it no longer.

The Shiroganes moved into their current apartment when Shiro was about sixteen and Ryou was about ten. They had lived in a townhouse with Shiro’s grandparents before that, but since they had decided to move to the countryside with their second son – Shiro’s uncle, the family didn’t feel the need for the giant house. The apartment was Shiro’s home for two years in high school, until he left for aviation school.

Shiro’s room didn’t change much. He had come back every few summer or winter breaks and stayed in that very room, but never long enough for him to have the urge to give his room any personality. The walls were still the same vintage wallpaper that his mother picked out, his desk sat to one corner next to the windows that stared down into the park nearby, and the bookshelf carried the few books he owned from childhood – most of which were textbooks that he should have thought about getting rid of a long time ago. The only pop of colour in his room was a long red umbrella leaning on one side of the wall, and it didn’t even count as actual décor. 

He wondered how he ever survived staying in this room as an eighteen year old, when most of his friends that knew him and had the privilege to come over to his home in Altea all knew that Shiro loved home décor so much his house might just be the biggest collection of funky home décor that isn’t on sale. 

All of those were still sitting in Altea, of course. And Adam was still there to take care of them, so Shiro wasn’t exactly too concerned about their state of being. Shiro was one to collect, not so much to preserve. Adam was the one who went out of his way to buy the polishes for their vintage hardwood desk. 

Looking at the desk in his room now – the simple white desk with drawers on the side that one would find in any office building – Shiro wondered if it was worth it to ring up Adam and ask him to send the other desk. But then he decided against it. It would be a pain to move it twice if he decided to go back to Fala.

He shrugged off his jacket and draped it over the back of the desk’s chair and headed out of his room to the dining table. His mother was making yaki udon for lunch, the smell of beef and tempura wafted in the air as she busied herself in the kitchen and Shiro was practically salivating at the smell.

“Mom, that smells amazing.” He sat down at the table next to Ryou, and his mother turned around with a smile at the compliment.

“It’s a special day!” she said. “Can you two set up the table and call your dad? I’m almost done.”

Lunch was almost reminiscence of a distant memory that he couldn’t quite recall. It had been a long time since he had last sat at that very seat and ate with just his family. His mother was stacking more toppings into his bowl and Ryou glanced at it with a joking jealousy as Shiro got the last tempura prawn.

“You owe me a tub of ice cream, just for having that.” Ryou pointed at the prawn.

“You can afford your own ice cream.”

“But free food is the best food.”

“He hasn’t even gotten his paycheck yet and you’re telling him to buy you things already.” Their father chastised. “By the way, Takashi, when do you start at the school?”

Shiro slurped on a noodle and swallowed. “Next week, Dad.”

“Right. What was that school again?”

“Daibazaal Aviation Academy.”

“Still flight school? Didn’t you sign up for Polytechnic?”

“Polytechnic is where I’m doing my thesis, Dad. He’s a pilot, remember?” Ryou chuckled slightly. “A crappy pilot that still won’t take me to Altea on a private jet.”

“I could be kicked out of the program for just letting you onto IAA3 property.” Shiro reminded him.

“Since when do you actually care about rules?”

“Ryou, stop pestering your brother about private jets.” Their mother huffed. “And Takashi, maybe if you could get your brother on a private jet one day, then he would stop whining about it. Maybe you could even ask-”

Ryou placed his chopsticks down, “Mom, it’s a joke.”

“-Adam if he could co-pilot and take us all on vacation somewhere. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

The table was silent as Ryou cringed apologetically at Shiro. Shiro tried not to sigh. Perhaps his mother was the biggest advocate for her children, but at the same time, she was also the biggest advocate for Shiro’s and Adam’s marriage. When that fell apart… Shiro didn’t even want to recall the entire argument they had over the phone when Shiro was back in Altea. 

“Mom,” Shiro said. “We’re divorced.”

“I know, but he’s such a good in-law and you said you guys ended on a good note. Surely it’s fine to-“

“We’re divorced. We got married and separated, Mom.”

“I know.” His mother said, defeated and sighed into her food, as if waiting for Shiro to apologise.

Shiro usually had more tact than this, but he had been so wrung out ever since the divorce had been finalised and he had to move from another planet back to Galra. It didn’t help that he barely slept on the trip back, but he couldn’t care about Ryou’s discomfort about the awkwardness at the table. Their dad continued to eat his noodles as if nothing had happened, and Shiro opted to do the same.

“I’m going to Keith’s tonight, by the way. So don’t stay up waiting.” Ryou said a while later.

Their mother nodded. “Can you bring over some fruits for them as well? I want to send them some pears.”

“Keith?” Shiro asked. He had a vague memory of the name – of a boy in Ryou’s age with blood for recklessness but a wickedly sharp mind. The last time he could put a face to the name was perhaps eighteen years ago at his high school graduation. “As in Keith from high school?”

“Yeah, that Keith.” Ryou said with a full mouth. “We’re doing game night ‘cause it’s my only chance to step on his ego.”

“You say that as if that boy has one as big as yours to begin with.” Their dad chuckled.

“True. He’s way too nice sometimes, just not to me.”

“I’m surprised you’re still friends with him.” Shiro raised his eyebrows. “You two weren’t that close last I remember.”

“Yeah, we got closer after you left. He went to DPU, as well.”

“Oh! Same course as you?”

“No, he did Management.”

“What? I thought he was gonna go into some engineering thing. He was so much smarter than you ever were.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Ryou rolled his eyes. “You say that but you’re just jealous” 

Shiro snorted. “Of what?”

“My good looks.” Ryou posed with his fingers making a tick mark, placing it beneath his chin. “Not everyone can maintain this face and this brain at the same time.” 

Shiro nodded and used his hand to shove Ryou’s stupid grin away. “Say that after you get your PhD.”

Ryou didn’t come back for dinner that night, and Shiro only wondered if Ryou was actually playing games like he said and not something else – though it wasn’t Shiros’ place to say much about what his brother does in his free time. It was the weekends, after all, and they were only reaching the end of their career driven-twenties.

Meanwhile, Shiro was thirty-six and still couldn’t talk to his parents most of the time, though Adam had gently nudged him to open up to them when they were together. It worked, sometimes. Most of the time, Shiro didn’t bother to tell Adam about it because it was too exhausting for him to even deal with it himself. But then after the divorce, it felt like it was easier to deal with his parents than it was to deal with Adam.

So Shiro moved back. And to some it looked like him running with his tail between his legs back to his parents. But to Shiro, it was an opportunity to rethink his life around. He had a new job as a flight instructor, and there were already people rooting for his return to full-time flying. That was already a good indicator that his life might finally be turning itself around.

Shiro was scheduled to teach only three days a week at DAA5, but he still had work to do in between those hours. They set him up with first year classes because those kids will be on simulators until at least half-way through their second year, after which, real flying begins and Shiro is accountable for errors on flight. Of course they didn’t want another mishap like Kerberos happening, and Shiro had long stopped trying to argue about it.

The school ground was large and based a bit far from the city, but it wasn’t much trouble with the current public transportations that Daibazaal had to offer. Shiro was on a highway before he reached a high-speed shuttle that took private vehicles straight to the hub right behind his school. He heard that they almost placed it in front until the students protested, for in front of the school was also a park. It littered with mostly students staying on campus more than the normal working adults.

The school itself was like a mini-city, with buildings for instructors and students, an airfield a bit of a distance away, dorms, cafeteria, gym, and various restaurants and coffee shops that are an absolute godsend as the weather grew colder.

Shiro liked the one in the building opposite to his. He usually got one in the morning, but he was rushing for class that particular morning (because Ryou hoarded the bathroom, that asshole) and had saved an overpriced five-GAC cup of coffee in exchange for feeling dead the entire day. But it was only Monday, and Shiro was supposed to go to the gym that day as well, so he _needed_ coffee to actually make it home without falling asleep in the car. Shiro groaned in his chair and pushed away from his desk. They did say caffeine was good before gym.

He had his bag packed in five minutes, and he was out the door within eight. Daibazaal was barely settling into winter as it moved from September to October. Usually on Altea, October would be the very last month (or phoeb, as the Alteans called it) of the year during which Shiro’s city – Fala – would already be halfway through its winter. But October was merely the beginning of winter in Daibazaal, and only the wind was aggressive as it hurled the last leaves off their branches and towards Shiro, making him turn away to avoid getting stabbed in the face.

It might have been the wind that was causing his eyes to see things that weren’t there, but a mop of black hair caught his eyes immediately in the background of green grass. It wasn’t because there was something particularly special about that hair – Shiro knew his own white hair gave people a bigger whiplash than that – but it was the way that particular individual dressed. They were entirely _not_ preppy and student like, but a more subdued maturity. And in between the herds of students, Shiro couldn’t help but be drawn in.

Shiro made a slight detour, stepping closer to the lawn to catch a better look, because he swore he could see red sneakers sticking out. And red sneakers he did see, as well as a sharp jaw and chin jutting up as the mysterious figure knocked back on their coffee. Shiro walked closer, and with his head tilted slightly, staring down at the figure sitting on the lawn, who looked up at him with a similarly baffled expression.

“Keith?”

The person almost spitted their coffee out at Shiro’s voice, and glanced up in surprise. “Shiro?”

Shiro almost couldn’t believe it himself that he was looking at the same Keith Kogane that he used to know. The kid that used to hang by his side was taller, his frame grown outwards and upwards and he shot up like a tree. His dark hair was tied back simply in a bun at the nape of his neck, and the voice crack that Shiro remembered back when Keith had gone to puberty had evened out into a smooth timbre as he spoke.

“I can’t believe it! What are you doing here? I almost didn’t recognize you!” Keith said as he stood up, coffee still in one hand and the other shoving casually into the front of his overcoat. He wore the clothes as if they were made for him, and Shiro barely managed to not sound like he was checking Keith out when he replied a split second too late. _Say something cool._

“I-uh… I teach here.” Shiro said… and went silent after… awkwardly. 

He wanted to slap himself.

Thankfully, Keith was kind and nodded, either unaware of Shiro’s awkwardness or ignoring it. “Oh, right! Ryou told me you got back and you were teaching at a flight school. I didn’t expect to run into you here though.”

“Me neither. What are you doing here? Ryou told me you work in an office or something and this isn’t exactly a metropolitan area.”

“I work for The Coffee Beanz.” Keith pointed to the very coffee shop that Shiro was (previously) heading towards. “I’m a supervisor for one of our branches over there. We have a routine checkup every month.”

“What a coincidence - I was actually going to head over there now.” Shiro smiled and was graciously met with Keith’s own endeared chuckle. Keith was the living definition of whiplash. Shiro’s brain was trying to match his past memories with the image in front of him, and he was still trying to reel his head around the man wearing red sneakers, dress pants and a woolen overcoat, looking everything out of a dream.

But before Shiro could even say his next thoughts, Keith’s phone rang and he apologetically raised a finger to Shiro to answer it. At the end of the phone call, Keith still looked apologetic, as if he was prepared to say goodbye to their short lived encounter. And Shiro swore he had more tact than this, he swore he could flirt and talk to people, but perhaps two years of marriage had returned him to his initial state of cluelessness. Or perhaps it was because Keith was doing something to Shiro’s general functioning.

So when Keith turned to him, Shiro had his words ready. “Are you doing anything tonight?”

They had dinner at a pasta place downtown because Keith wanted something saucy and Shiro wanted something with noodles – Altea had deprived him of noodles for far too long and Shiro was taking every chance he could to make up for the noodles and pastas he didn’t get in the last eighteen years.

(Keith laughed at that joke, which made Shiro’s inside dance in a strange way. Shiro blamed it on being in a relationship for so long that even the smallest hope of something could set him off.)

“So? What’s your story?” Keith said as Shiro had just shoved a giant mouthful of spaghetti into his mouth and almost choked on it. Keith laughed and handed him a tissue.

“What story?” Shiro wiped his mouth.

“The story of the past - I don’t even know how long? When was the last time I saw you? Your high school graduation?” Keith cocked his head in thought. “Oh my god, that was like… almost twenty years ago!”

“Yeah, I’m getting old.”

“Come on, life is only just getting to the interesting bits.”

“Your definition of _interesting_ sounds very different from what I’ve been living.” Shiro chuckled.

“That sounds like a story to tell, Shiro. Come on, what have you been up to since I last saw you?” Keith looked at him expectantly, chin resting on his palm in an entirely too cute manner that made Shiro want to spill his entire gut. But then he remembered the recent events that lead to where he was now, and held his tongue, if only to preserve whatever good image Keith still had for him.

“How about you tell me about what you were up to? I’m sure you already heard a lot of stuff about me through Ryou and my parents.” He offered instead.

Keith pouted dramatically for a second before he relented, speaking a bit softer than before. “Well, it’s not as glamorous as yours, that’s for sure. After high school, I went to uni, got a degree and started working. Been at the same place ever since.”

“That sounds like a giant oversimplification for the most interesting twenty years of a person’s life.” Shiro pointed his fork at Keith accusingly and watched as Keith laughed, if a bit dryly. “Ryou said you went to DPU. Management, was it?”

“Yeah.”

“I was actually surprised when I heard that.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know. I always thought that you were aiming for something a bit different...” He bit his lips, wondering how to ask the question without sounding offensive. “I just didn’t think you’d end up with a desk job. That isn’t to say that Management isn’t a great degree to study, though.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean. Lots of people have said that to me,” Keith replied a bit dryly. “I did try, at first. I was doing paramedicine, but then… well, Dad died – I’m not sure if Ryou ever told you about that.”

Shiro nodded somberly. “I heard. I’m sorry I couldn’t come back for the funeral.”

“No, it’s fine. You weren’t the worst offender at the time,” Keith waved a dismissive hand at him. “But it was ages ago, and I changed to a different degree – something that gave me a more stable job. I was kind of losing my passion in the first place anyways, so it was just logical.”

“And how did your sister react to you doing that?”

“Romelle?” Keith bit at his fork. “Well, she didn’t say anything, honestly. She was just getting into high school, so she didn’t really care much for what I did. We weren’t as close back then. The one who gave me a bitching was actually Ryou.”

Shiro chuckled. “He does tend to bitch a lot doesn’t he?”

“My god, he _does_. He understood my intentions, he just didn’t approve of my methods. But things worked out in the end, so it wasn’t all for nothing.”

Shiro nodded. “And are you guys still living in the old house, or…?”

Keith shook his head. “No point in staying there, honestly. Me and ‘Melle live in District Four. We got a small apartment each in the same building.” It was one of the districts that experienced a large popup of apartments in recent years, as Shiro had learnt. It was closer to the CBD and was generally more cramped as they tried to shove giant apartment complexes where there were previously the old apartment buildings that were only a few stories tall. They were more popular with single people or couples without kids. Shiro had searched for a place there before deciding to stay with his parents for a while first, because while money wasn’t the issue, Shiro couldn’t find himself living alone after having been cohabiting with someone else for so long.

“Wow, that’s pretty good. And you say your life isn’t glamorous.” He whistled. “Makes me and Ryou sound kind of pathetic for living with our parents.”

“Oh please _Mr._ _I-got-into-one-of-the-best-space-research-program-in-the-galaxy_ - _with-the-IAA._ ”

Shiro scratched his neck. “Well, as you can see: I got in and I got out.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Keith cringed and took a bite of his food to stop himself from talking. Shiro didn’t miss the barest glance to Shiro’s right arm – or the chunk of metal that was now his right arm. It remains one of Altea’s greatest medical feats, and Shiro was perhaps one of the luckiest people in the universe to have a state of the art prosthetic, courtesy of one Allura King.

That story was a popular one that had ran on the news for weeks straight back in Altea. 

Shiro shrugged. “It’s fine. It’s a long time ago. I hardly think about it anymore.” That was a lie. “I was still under the IAA’s employment after that though, so, like you said, not all is lost.”

“Wait, then why are you teaching here? Shouldn’t you be at _ARIAA_ 4 instead? You are an alumni there anyways.”

“Actually, I asked for this assignment.” He said. “IAA had connections to virtually almost every flight school out there. They did offer me a position at ARIAA, but I just… needed to get out of Altea for a while. And I thought: why not go back to Galra? Go back home, you know?”

“Daibazaal _is_ full of opportunities.” Keith hummed in understanding and took a gulp of water. And Shiro tried not to look too hard at the way the light hazy lights made his wet lips seem ever redder. “And it’s nice to be able to go home to family as well, I’m guessing.” Keith continued. “How are your parents, by the way?”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “From what they told me, you probably know more about what they’ve been doing in the last few years more than I ever did.”

“Your mom was very insistent about inviting us over… a lot. “ Keith said sheepishly.

“It’s because she wanted at least one daughter but got two sons instead.”

“I could tell. Romelle calls her ‘Mom’. _And_ they knit together.”

“Really? Damn, Mom’s really putting it out there that both her sons are useless, huh?” He laughed.

“Come on, she doesn’t think that. You guys are still her kids. Romelle and I are just people she happened to feel like she needed to care for in the same manner.”

“Has she given you the talk about marriage and family yet?” Shiro asked in a jokingly serious tone.

“Why? Am I supposed to expect it?” Keith’s eyes went wide in a comical way, and it made Shiro grin from ear to ear. He raised his glass of water and clinked it against Keith’s glass and drank, letting Keith absorb the silence as his answer.

“Are you serious?”

“I got that talk when I was around your age, so… I’m ready to film it when you and Ryou get yours.” Shiro raised his eyebrows devilishly. "I can assure you that it was awful." He said and watched as Keith’s expression dissolved into mortification.

“I haven’t seen you in years but I hate you already.”

“That’s a lie, _you love me._ ” Shiro grinned.

“Keep telling yourself that.” Keith huffed in fake annoyance. The moment was so reminiscent of their youth that Shiro spent a few moments in silence after Keith spoke to just look at him. He still couldn’t believe how much time had passed ever since he last had such a light hearted banter without feeling the weight of the rest of his existence on him. He might have sounded overly dramatic, but the last couple of months had really shown through the creases on his face, enough that Ryou’s first comment when he saw him was _‘you look like Dad’,_ which was another level of terrifying altogether.

But talking to Keith was refreshing. And Shiro found himself breathing a bit easier as the night wore on and their conversations dragged from one story to another, all with their own charms and never un-exciting. Shiro was laughing until his jaws were aching.

Keith was half-way into a story that would destroy every bit of Ryou’s dignity when his phone started ringing with perhaps the most annoying tone Shiro had ever heard. It was like a mix between your grandmother’s antique doorbell and the barking of her twenty dogs that would not hesitate to bite you.

“That ringtone really is something.” Shiro blinked and Keith snorted.

“It’s my supervisor calling.”

“Well that explains a lot.” Shiro cringed as Keith stared at the screen, still wondering whether to take the call. If it was Shiro, he would have turned it off the minute it rang. It was late in the evening, whatever work should wait until the next day. He flicked his chin to the phone. “You gonna take that?”

“Yeah, I…” Keith sighed. “I am. Excuse me for a bit.”

“No, it’s alright.”

Keith stepped out to take the call whilst Shiro watched him from the windows inside, munching on leftover olives on the plate. When Keith returned, he wore that apologetic look again, and Shiro’s stomach dropped at the sight too.

“I need to check something over at work, so I need to head over there.” Keith said with a slight grimace. “Sorry to end dinner early.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Shiro waved a hand, dismissing Keith’s apology and hiding his own disappointment. He was honestly hoping to drag it into deserts, but he wasn’t going to be getting anything tonight, apparently.

“Does this happen a lot - your boss calling you in to work past working hour?” Shiro asked as he handed his credit card to the waiter.

“I’m usually still at the office at this hour though. He calls up whoever’s there or closest to work.” Keith shrugged and finished off his glass of water. “Guess he thought I would still be there.”

“You shouldn’t make it a habit for your boss to call you when you’re not on the clock.” He looked at Keith, serious.

“Yeah, I know. But I’ve been there for eight years. I’m used to it.”

 _Eight years_ of bending over backwards for your supervisors. Shiro frowned at that statement. He knew enough about employees being overworked by their bosses. He had his own fair share of working overtime, but never had he let his superiors sit on his neck for eight years without throwing at least one tantrum to make sure they know their place.

He didn’t exactly expect Keith to bow so easily when he could still remember that stubborn but brilliant boy from his youth. And perhaps Shiro was crossing the line when he didn’t stop himself quickly enough before he asked, “Since when did you become a pushover?”

Keith bit his lip and looked away from him, and Shiro wanted to slap himself - he really outdone peak-dumb-Shiro today. “Sorry, that was rude.” Shiro managed to utter, taking a swig of water and taking his credit card back from the waiter.

“It’s a valid question.” He gave Shiro a tight smile, a bit tired and defeated with his eye bags more prominent under this hazy overhead light. They put their coats on – Keith swinging his backpack on and leading the way out.

“If I don’t do it, then my supervisor would just call someone else.” Keith told him at the door. “I don’t want my co-workers to have to deal with him and come in when I’m still close enough to the office to finish quicker.”

“He’s that bad?”

Keith shrugged. “I guess. But what can you do? Sometimes you just have shitty bosses and last minute work popping up out of nowhere.” He sighed a cloud of breath and shivered as the wind blew past the small alleyway that the restaurant front was on. Shiro felt a shiver run through him as well, and tucked his scarf into the collar of his coat. He didn’t plan on staying out this late and frankly didn’t have enough layers for this late in the day – which was not something he thought he would say.

“I better get going,” Keith pointed in a vague direction.

“You want me to drop you off?”

Keith shook his head. “I’m good. It’s only a five minute walk from here. I’ll be fine.” He said, smiling warmly at the gesture. “It was nice to catch up with you again.”

“Me too. See you around?” Shiro returned with a hopeful smile which he hoped didn’t come across as too desperate. It had been a while since he has had friends that he genuinely wanted to spend time with. It was a bonus that Keith was quite good looking and Shiro was a teenager in a thirty-six year old man’s body and can’t control himself around beautiful men.

Keith gave him only but a casual salute, but Shiro’s heart skipped a beat at how the wind blew past, sweeping Keith’s long hair back as he made the gesture, his unbuttoned coat billowing behind him as he looked much too cool for an office worker at eight p.m. on a Monday. He almost expected Keith to say a proper _yes, sir._

Shiro held his breath in realisation. He wouldn’t mind if Keith did say that. But what Keith said before taking off was, “See you around.”

He was left to feel the heat crawling onto his cheeks even after he had gotten into the car. He groaned into the wheels as he already felt how uncomfortable his trousers were. He looked down to the gearshift to where Keith’s forgotten coffee cup still sat in the cup holder, and remembered that he needed to head to the gym tomorrow, instead.

Shiro sighed as he pulled out of parking and drove a long way home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word-building notes:  
> 1) Daibazaal is a metropolitan city on the planet of Galra. Fala is the metropolitan city in the planet of Altea. They're planets in neighbouring solar systems.  
> 2) All the planets include various different races of aliens after the intergalactic war from centuries before, and hence started the Galactic Coaltion and a new age of 'globalisation.'  
> 3) IAA: _Intergalactic Aeronautical Administration_ , which is a space exploration and research administration in Altea. It is one of the biggest and most research intense space administration in the universe.  
> 4) ARIAA: Altea Royal Institute of Aeronautics and Aviation - Shiro's old flight school in Altea, which is one of the most prestigious flight schools, being connected to and partially funded by the IAA.  
> 5) DPU: _Daibaazal Polytechnic University_ \- where Keith and Ryou did their undergrads, and where Ryou is still doing his PhD. 
> 
> (Also idk about you guys but where I currently study, the local polytechnic uni has a really bad rep, but where I _come from,_ polytechnic is so selective that only the natural science kids ever get in. Strange world.)
> 
> Word of warning that this story will be a bit slow, because the Kdrama itself was pretty slow and quite reflective of real life and real people, though it is a bit biased towards a more East Asian (specifically Korean) working culture and stereotypes, which I can't write about with absolute accuracy or fairness because I'm not a Korean white-collar worker, which means I might have not understood certain cultural nuances and so forth. 
> 
> I will try to reflect a bit of the issues in a more general sense as well as work it into the characters and their development to the best that I can, though I can't guarantee that there won't be some issues that I might not be able to resolve in a satisfactory way at the end. 
> 
> As for updates, since it is literally reaching the end of the semester for me atm (my exam is in a month), i won't be updating frequently at all, and will sporadically update when I can find time to write a decent chapter. 
> 
> Leave a kudos or comments if you like. Tell me what you think about this chapter so far and how I introduced the characters, because it would help me greatly later on!


	2. Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith turns 30 on a rainy winter day.

“Kogane!”

It took every ounce of Keith’s will to not explicitly sigh or cringe as he turned around at his name being called. He turned towards the voice. “Yes, sir?”

Sendak’s unimpressed mug of a face was practically glued to Keith’s every movement, as if checking for any sort of insubordination. Not finding Keith’s carefully concealed urge to lash out, he made a wave to come to his table. This time, Keith did sigh as he got up, and Acxa gave him a sympathetic look from her cubicle.

 _You need earplugs?_ She mouthed the words to him, but he shook his head. He couldn’t think of much that Sendak could be complaining about recently, perhaps besides the report that Keith had to whip up in the middle of the night because his supervisor forgot to inform him of the need for the report in the first place.

When he approached Sendak’s table, the man was making a show of flipping over the report that Keith wrote. He turned over the page and pointed to it. “You call that a report?”

Keith held his tongue as Sendak flicked over another page. “Where did you even get your numbers, Kogane? Half of this shit doesn’t even make any sense.”

 _They would make sense if you bother reading the last two reports that Ezor wrote._ Keith thought, but held his tongue. Just as he thought that Sendak was finally done with shitting on him about the report and he could return to his seat, Sendak pointed at him, ordering him to stay put.

“Rose! McLain!”

Acxa and Lance’s heads perked from their cubicles and walked over, already prepared for the onslaught - Lance took a long suffering breath and Acxa smoothed down the hair around her ears to hide her earplugs. Sendak looked over to the three of them with clear annoyance.

“Do you know what the three of you are here for?” Sendak asked and received no replies besides the three employees’ looking towards their feet. He slapped Keith’s report on the table. “You three have worked here longer than everyone else, you should know better about what team dinners are for, shouldn’t you? You’re supposed to lead by example.”

Keith glanced at the report on the table, already knowing that he had to stay back that night to edit it. His gaze passed over Sendak’s face, which was nothing if not fuming in repressed anger. His fists shook in attempts to hold himself back. Keith was sure that if he, Lance and Acxa were anything but Sendak’s subordinates, then they would probably have received more than just the lashing outs. Keith had seen Sendak’s number of partners passing by the office every now and again in the eight years that he had been there. Not one of them ever wore anything besides long sleeves and at least some sort of scarf.

“Even Narti went to the team dinner yesterday, and she’s the newest and youngest of all of you here. But none of you showed up. I expected better from you three.” Sendak yelled and threw the report back to Keith. “Redo your report. I want it by tomorrow.” He gestured to the rest of them. “Leave, all of you.”

Keith took the report in his arm and went back to his seat if perhaps a bit too eagerly, but he wasn’t called out for it, so no one must have noticed. He sighed as he sat down, looking outside the window. It was only late afternoon but the sky had already gone dark as winter was finally upon them. The sky had looked dark since noon, and remained cloudy until now. He really hoped it wasn’t going to rain.

He flipped his phone up to check the time – the screensaver of Kosmo stared back at him, and a message from Romelle. He dialled the phone.

 _“Hey, you. Are you off work yet?”_ She said with a gentle excitement in her tone. The background noises of bustling people and shopping carts told him that she was at the store doing their weekly grocery.

Keith could already taste the hotpot that Romelle would only ever cook for them on special occasions, “No, I’m not off work yet.”

_“Oh... okay. What time are you coming back this evening?”_

“Uh…” Keith looked at the clock on his desktop. He was supposed to be leaving the office in an hour, but with Sendak being an ass, he wasn’t going to be leaving until at least nine.

Romelle sighed, _“Are you staying back late again?”_

“Yeah,” he said, defeated. “Something came up and I need to do this report by tomorrow.”

_“Okay, what time are you getting back, though?”_

“Late? I don’t know - just until the work is done.”

 _“Alright_ ,” Romelle spoke softly, and Keith didn’t miss the disappointment and worry in her tone. _“Don’t work too hard, okay? It’s your birthday - you should be celebrating, not working.”_

“Yeah, I know. But what can you do.” Keith pressed a smile as if she could see him, but knew that it was unconvincing even to himself. “Anyways, I gotta go. Talk to you later, ‘Melle.”

Keith hung up the phone, stretched his arms and cracked his neck before standing up to get himself more coffee. The (perhaps only) benefit of working for a coffee shop chain is perhaps the almost unlimited supply of coffee that was available in the kitchen.

By the time he got back to his workspace, the rain had finally started to patter on the windows outside as soft ambient sounds over the sound of keys typing in the office. Keith got back to work and it wasn’t long until his co-workers started to leave for the evening, one by one.

There was something strangely melancholic in his heart as Keith sat there with his work and his occasional greetings to his coworkers h as they left. Perhaps he was expecting something that day, some sort of change that would come with having gone from being in his twenties into his thirties. But the weather continued to rain around the time of his birthday, the work continued to be the same, and Keith was only another year older.

One would think that by that age, he should stop expecting grand changes to happen, but yet there he was, staring out the window as if he was the protagonist of a music video, vibing to a heart-wrenching ballad about how life has changed.

And it has changed – so much more than Keith could have imagined. But so little at the same time. That really shouldn’t make any sense to him, but it does. 

A hand crept up onto his table, placing a small gift-wrapped box in front of him. Keith was pulled from his thoughts and turned to the giver with a pleased chuckle. He gingerly picked up the box, spinning it in his hand and admiring the wrapping.

“I must say I didn’t expect a present today.” 

“Did you forget your own birthday again?” Acxa grinned at him knowingly, leaning against the desk.

“Well it’s not easy to forget that it’s your own birthday with Sendak’s well wishes, you know?” Keith snorted, reclining into his armchair. Acxa could only look at him with sympathy again. That was perhaps her most important job – validating Keith’s sufferings as much as understanding it. He would have probably gone mad a lot sooner had she not come in to save him.

“I know. Eight years and he still can’t get a hint. I _had_ wondered how many of those team dinners we could get out of before he started yapping.” She clicked her tongue.

“Well, the answer is _one_.” Keith said. “He sure knows to nip a flower at its bud.”

Acxa cringed. “I’m still not going to another of those dinners until the end of year party, at least - no matter what he says.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

“Stop making the rest of us look bad and grow bigger balls, Kogane. I know you have them.” Acxa kicked him lightly in the leg. It made Keith smile a little, though he wasn’t very believing of her words. “Anyways, I’m gonna go. You sure you don’t want to get dinner, at least? It’s kinda depressing to spend your birthday evening in the office alone.”

Keith waved her off. “Nah, I’ll be fine. Go home to your girlfriend; don’t keep her waiting because of me.”

“Happy birthday, Keith.” Acxa said before leaving. Keith tucked the present into his backpack and kept working. 

Three hours later, Keith snapped his head up from the couch in the lounge as his phone rang loudly. He groaned as he reached for his phone, unhappy about being awoken from his nap. Ryou’s stupid face popped up on the screen and Keith aggressively tapped the receive button.

 _“_ What?”

_“Come down and get me, asshole. I got booze and food.”_

Keith scrambled off the couch and towards the window. He looked down towards the ground floor and saw Ryou’s car sitting out front, windshield wiping occasionally. The rain has lightened, but there was still a hazy mist outside the window. Keith quickly grabbed his key card and coat and headed down.

Ryou sat in shotgun, and pulled his window down when Keith stepped into the drizzle.

“ ‘Melle called you?” Keith guessed, and Ryou stared back at him as if to say _who else._

The seats behind cradled a bag of food and Keith leaned in a little closer to the window to smell the chicken that was definitely going to be there until at least tomorrow. Keith hummed. “Chicken and beer?”

“You know it.” Ryou said, leaning down to pick up the bag full of beer. But as he lifted it, the plastic bag decided it had finished its duties, and split at the seams. He groaned, “Give me a sec, I’ll get another bag.”

It was then that Keith finally noticed Shiro sitting in the driver seat. Shiro had comfortable sweats on, probably fully expecting to be home right after. His hair was still wet as if from a shower, and Keith was surprised – but perhaps a bit pleased – to be able to see him. They haven’t seen each other for two weeks, and he did miss being able to ogle at good looking people when they were before him.

“Hey, Shiro.” Keith waved. They haven’t been able to meet up much, though not for lack of trying, but for Keith’s schedule being so completely out of control that only Romelle or Ryou could keep up with their stubbornness. After the third time of cancelling a hangout, Keith decided to stop trying to reschedule. It wasn’t worth it to put people into trouble with his shit.

Shiro waved back. “Hey! Happy birthday, Keith.”

“Thanks! I didn’t know you were going to be driving Ryou here today.”

“Well I wasn’t going to, but then he convinced me otherwise.”

“Oh really?”

“He said you were going to be depressed and mopey by yourself.”

Keith gaped, stuttering. “I- I wasn't!”

“You were.” Ryou countered, finally managing to shove all the beer into another bag and opened the car door. “You’re thirty and in a desperate need of a drink, Keith.”

“He’s right, you know. The 30th one is one of those that either gives you depression or enlightenment.” Shiro teased, smiling.

Keith already knew how to wipe that smile of his face. “And you would know so much now, don’t you, old timer?”

Keith grinned and watched as Shiro’s smile dropped comically to a completely unamused expression. See, the deal with people after twenty six is that they start to feel old, and after thirty, they become a little sensitive about their age until they reach forty. After which numbers tend to blur a bit more. 

“Take your food and leave, Kogane.” Shiro said coldly though with slight mirth.

“Yes, sir.” Keith laughed and pulled open the back door to retrieve the food. Shiro drove away after they had gotten into the building.

Ryou was technically an unauthorised personnel, but Keith had stayed back long enough to know the name of the night-shift guard on duty that day, and the guy already knew how much stress Keith has on a daily basis. It was his birthday, too - exceptions were made.

Upstairs, Keith and Ryou set up their things on the coffee table on the couches near Keith’s table. His stomach rumbled loudly before he could even set the food down and Ryou only laughed as he embarrassedly admitted that he was – in fact – grateful that _the ever wise master Ryou took time to feed this humble servant of capitalism_.

Ryou clinked his mug to Keith’s before they downed their first mug of beer. In hindsight, they should have brought actual glasses or at least something a little less like Keith’s _World’s Best Brother_ mug and other coffee cups supplied by the office’s kitchen area. But this was fine – Keith only wanted the alcohol. 

Keith picked up a chicken wing and bit into it with a satisfied moan. “This chicken will never cease to amaze me, I swear.”

“Well, you would be able to have more chicken and beer with me if you stop hiding in this office all the time.” Ryou peered into the takeout box and picked up his own piece of chicken. They shamelessly sat on the carpet because it was more convenient this way than it is to eat whilst sitting on the couch. It made them feel like a couple of housewives gossiping, but then again, _where’s the lie_?

“I would if I could. Sendak’s just a bitch today.” He said in between bites.

“Sometimes I wonder if the supervisors at your place actually do anything.”

Keith snorted. “They don’t. They pretend they do while the rest of us work our asses off and they take the credit for managing the team.”

“What would they do without you, honestly?” Ryou shook his head. “Probably would have gone under already if you and the others weren’t holding this company up.”

“I highly doubt that, but I’ll entertain the idea, if only for today.”

Ryou looked at him for a moment, thinking. “If that was the case, then until when are you going to continue working here?”

Keith chewed slowly on his chicken wing and shrugged.

“Come on dude, you can find other work elsewhere. You’ve been here since you graduated, but you don’t have to be here forever.”

He swallowed and took a swig of beer before answering. “I wanted security, and the job offered me that.”

Ryou laughed mockingly at him. “You’re kidding, right? Keith, you’re about as safe here as you are walking into an alley with rapists in the middle of the night.”

Keith didn’t have anything to say to that, so he took another sip.

“You clock overtime every week, and your supervisors are no worse than your-”

“Ryou!”

Ryou hung his mouth, words almost spilling but closing it with a murmured apology. “Sorry. But you get my point right?”

“I don’t want to think about it.” Keith glared threateningly at Ryou, setting his mug down and refilling both of their mugs with a new can of beer. “I don’t want to think about this on my birthday. Let’s talk about something else.” He offered his mug up for a cheer.

Ryou was still evidently unsatisfied at his response, but picked up his mug and clunk it against Keith’s either ways. They dug back into their chicken for a while before Ryou spoke up again. “Did you meet my brother before today or something?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like… you’re not surprised at all after seeing him again for the first time in twenty years?”

“Oh…” Keith placed his chicken down, wiping his hands. “I saw him the other day when I went on my monthly check-ups at one of the branches.”

Ryou perked up. “Which one?”

“The one at the aviation school. I’m supervising that store. He saw me and asked to catch up so we went out for pasta.”

He made a noise of surprise. “That’s funny. He didn’t tell anyone that he met you.”

“Maybe he just doesn’t want you snooping into his personal life.” Perhaps Keith didn’t exactly want to tell him about it either, because all Keith could remember from that day was how awestruck he was at seeing Shiro again, how unexpected it was to find him with white hair and a floating prosthetic, and how expecting it was to fall for his charms again.

It happened the first time that they met, though Shiro’s hair was black at the time, and he was less built like a brick house that Keith so desperately wanted to climb. He didn’t dare entertain the idea, but something about Shiro did made his heart sing a little.

“Like any of us have a personal life when we live with our parents.” Ryou snorted but then stopped when he found Keith’s dopey expression. “What does that face mean?”

“What face?”

“That face.” He pointed at Keith. “That smile you’re making as if you’re enchanted.”

Keith shook his head but the smile remained on his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Kogane, if that face is what I think it is, then-“

“Well, Shiro is nice, alright?”

“Nice? Is that really all that you thought about him?”

“Well - no, I have eyes.” _And those pectorals stretching against the DAA flight instructor uniform made Keith a little woozy_ , “So normally I would say he’s hot. I mean- did you see him in his uniform?”

“I can’t fucking believe you.”

“But because I respect you, I’ll just say he’s nice.”

Ryou chucked a pillow at him as Keith laughed loudly. _“Fuck you, Keith.”_

  
  
  
  


Shiro rubbed his eyes and yawned as he walked down the hallway to the dining table. As he passed by the living room, he could hear his mother slapping Ryou on the leg to wake the poor guy up. He must have passed out on the couch after coming back late yesterday.

His dad was already walking out the door, dressed and ready to go to work – he was technically already eligible to retire, but something about retirement made him antsy and he insisted on continuing a little longer. Shiro said goodbye to him whilst his mother fussed in the kitchen, having given up on waking Ryou up.

He wetted a towel and dropped it onto his brother’s face, squatting in front of the couch to laugh at his miserable hungover groan. “Wake up. Don’t you have classes to teach?”

“I’m a tutor, we don’t teach - we host tutorials. And most Engineering kids drop out after first year anyways. They’re not missing out”

“Definitely look like you had a fun night.”

“Go away, Takashi.”

Shiro chuckled. “How’d you get home yesterday? How is Keith doing?”

Ryou pulled the wet towel off his face with a sudden movement and stared at Shiro with a disgruntled expression that had Shiro reeling. He stared at Shiro’s face with utmost scrutiny before lowering the towel onto his face again with another groan.

“What?” Shiro asked.

“I don’t know what people see in you, honestly.”

 _“Wait, what_?”

“Nothing. Go away, Takashi.”

“No no, you were about to say something.”

Ryou mumbled beneath the towel. “Keith thinks you’re hot. Now go away.”

“He did?” Shiro felt a smile creeping onto his face. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. By the way, why did you never tell me that you met Keith at DAA the other day?”

“Must have slipped my mind.” Shiro shrugged. “But did he really say that I was attractive?”

Ryou ripped off the towel again to glare at him. “Don’t let your ego get any bigger than it already is, _nii-san_.”

“Why would your brother’s ego ever get bigger? “ Their mom walked in again effectively ending their conversation when she tapped on Shiro’s shoulder. “Leave Ryou to sleep in. Your breakfast is ready is on the table.”

Shiro drove to work to the sound of upbeat pop playing from the morning radio and a stupid smile on his face that shouldn’t exist with how traffic was going, but Shiro was on a high that day. He dropped by the Coffee Beanz branch opposite to his building, humming as he waited for his drink and looked around the place as if Keith might pop out from somewhere, even though Keith’s routine checks were only once per month, and that had already passed that month.

A week came and went before Shiro received a text from Keith again, asking if he and Ryou were up for lunch that weekend with the Koganes.

Shiro was grinning so much as he replied that his students looked at him funny. But Shiro could care less. They set the date and Shiro had looked forward to it. But the morning of the day, Keith texted him at the last minute telling him that something important came up and Keith had to log overtime again.

Ryou merely shrugged at the text as he waved his chopsticks around. “That’s just typical Keith for you.”

They had cancelled multiple meetings before, but Shiro was very hopeful that Ryou and Romelle were going to create enough pressure on Keith that he won’t just bail on them again. But that didn’t happen, so Shiro moped slightly and could reply with reassurance that he didn’t mind.

He spent the day cleaning up his room and watching movies about a zombie apocalypse that his mom jumped at. Ryou had gone out again that afternoon and wasn’t expecting to be back until late, and Shiro looked at him leaving with a wistful glance - he missed being able to just go out with friends on a Saturday night, but that wasn’t happening when all of his friends were back in Altea.

What’s surprising, however, was Ryou later calling him up asking for a favour, _“Romelle has food for Keith but then he said he wasn’t coming back, so she asked me if I could deliver it to him if I was free – which I’m not – so you get the honours of being the Koganes’ delivery boy._ “

“Does this happen often?”

_“Yeah. They share a hoverbike, and Keith’s always somehow working so she would have to commute on public transport on a weekend schedule if she wants to get him proper food. I usually do it so she doesn’t have to try and work around the weekend public transport schedules.”_

Shiro looked at the clock and shrugged as if Ryou could see him. He didn’t have anything to do for the rest of the night anyways. “Alright, I’ll do it. Send me the address.”

Shiro barely remembered Romelle from the last time that he saw her. He recalled Keith’s sister as a small primary school kid with a vague memory of blonde hair. The Altean woman standing before him with low pigtails, incredibly blue eyes and tattoos down her arm wasn’t exactly what Shiro was expecting. Where Keith always wore more muted tones with red being the sole exception to his wardrobe, Romelle was bubbly with her pastel clothes and food containers as she sent him off. 

And like before, Keith came down to get him at the entrance. But unlike before, the careful workwear Shiro normally saw him in was nowhere to be found, and he looked completely dishevelled with his hair sticking in multiple directions as he stared at Shiro in bewilderment. “I can’t believe Romelle had the balls to ask you to do this.” 

“She didn’t. Ryou did.”

Keith nodded his head in understanding and peered into the lunchbox in Shiro’s hand with an excited smile. Then as if suddenly realising his appearance, he took a slight step b ack and straightened his hoodie. “Sorry I look like this.”

Shiro could barely find his voice to answer, because while put-together Keith looked nothing but like a heart throb, weekend Keith was the kind of look that was a little more subtle, but no less charming.

“It’s the weekends and you’re working. No one should be judging you for anything.”

“You wanna come up?” He pointed to the elevators.

“Is that allowed?”

“No. But who’s around to tell me off about it?” Keith grinned mischievously. 

They rode up the elevator to the seventeenth floor where Keith’s office was located. The place was always dusted with yellow lights on the ceiling and wooden décor. There were four cubicles pushed up into an island in the middle of the office for the branch supervisors and other smaller islands floating around for the other employees

There was a dining table in one corner of the office where Keith laid out the food that looked too much to be for one person. “She always makes extra in case I was really hungry or with someone.” Keith explained and passed him a bowl and fork. “That’s why I asked if you wanted to come up here with me.”

“Not because you thought I was hot?”

Keith almost tripped as he walked around the table to retrieve his mug, and Shiro couldn’t help but chortle. He cleared his throat. “Sorry... what?”

“Heard from a little birdy that someone said I was-”

Keith coughed and cleared his throat - he looked like he was about to combust.

Shiro grinned, wondering what kind of reaction he would get from teasing Keith even further. “Here I was, thinking that you were trying to spend time with me. But it seems that I’m nothing but the vacuum of space for you to dump excess food into.”

Keith didn’t say a thing as he set a mug of water in front of Shiro and sat down opposite to him, face as red as the sneakers he was wearing. Shiro smiled at the victory.

It was a comfortable meal. Shiro pointed to the various decorations around the office for Keith to explain the various stories relating to them. He pointed to the steel room separator with cool looking geometric shapes on the other side of the room, passed the islands of desks and Keith cringed slightly.

“That’s my supervisor’s desk.” He told him and Shiro nodded in understanding.

“The asshole one?”

“The _most_ asshole one.” Keith said distastefully. “His name is Sendak. And the shit he does makes me want to defenestrate myself.”

“Don’t die on me or else I’ll never get out of this building.” Shiro joked. “Why? What did he do?”

“What didn’t he do?” Keith rolled his eyes in extreme annoyance. “We opened a store in District 2 this week, which was going to fall under my management. I was already there last Friday to check out the place and make sure the things are ready and prepped. We’re also doing a giveaway for the entirety of the first week, lasting from Monday to Friday. I sent in the request for the merchandise since the week before. And then, on Monday-” he stabbed violently into the meat in his bowl. “-it was opening hour and we had no merchandise.”

“What!?”

“That was my exact reaction too.” He shoved the piece of meat into his mouth, fuming. “I called back to headoffice to ask and apparently my request was never received, and Sendak denied that I ever sent it in even though I definitely did.”

“Can’t you bring it up to HR?”

“I probably can. The issue is whether it is worth the trouble. Right now, I have to deal with those, first.” He pointed to the piles upon piles of boxes that were littered around the desks. “The merchandise got approved after Tuesday, so the order finally came on Thursday, and I’ve been packing them the entirety of today so we can send them to the customers that chose to leave their details at the store this week.”

Shiro couldn’t imagine the volume of people that would have visited a coffee shop for a day, not to mention an entire week. “How much have you managed to pack?”

“A quarter?” Keith sighed at the sight of those boxes. “Probably more. I just want at least half done by tonight so I can finish tomorrow.” 

Keith would probably be here until past midnight if he was working by himself. So Shiro did the only thing he could think of, and that was to offer his services, even if Keith vehemently denied it. It wasn’t as if he had anything better to do that night. 

They set up a chain production after dinner, Keith doing the packing and Shiro doing the sealing with such seamlessness that Keith laughed. “Should have recruited you for this a lot sooner.”

By half-past eleven, they have finished more than half, so at least Keith will finish a bit earlier tomorrow, even if he was doing this by himself.

“I honestly feel like if I had to work like you for seven days a week like this, I would no longer have hair.” Shiro commented, sealing the final box for the night. They were both exhausted and sore from having to sit for hours straight on the dining table chairs, but at least it was a productive evening. 

“Sometimes I wonder if I'll still have hair by the next month.” Keith let out a relieved moan when he leaned back against his chair. “Also question about your hair, is it a genetic thing? Ryou’s hair is turning white at the front, too.”

Shiro brushed a hand over his white bangs. “Yeah. Fitting of our name, right? My dad’s hair was completely white by the time he was forty.”

“When did it completely turn white for you?”

“Well it started halfway through flight school. After the accident, apparently something the Alteans did sort of accelerated it, I guess. Why? Does it make me look older?”

Keith turned his head sideways, resting it on his own shoulder to stare back at Shiro, and Shiro huffed in amusement at his posture. 

“It suits you. Wish I could pull that off. But the only grey hair I’m getting will just make me look even sadder.” He said with a wry smile.

Shiro was about to protest. The image of Keith with long white hair, styled as careful and magnificent as Allura’s that were pinned with juniberry flowers and Balmoran crystals when she had her wedding popped into his mind, or even just Keith with white hair in the same low ponytail would be a sight already.

But then he met Keith’s eyes - the clouds of emotions within it, and lost his thoughts. He couldn’t exactly tell the colour of them besides the fact that they were dark because of the yellow lighting in the office, but it felt like he was peering into Keith’s secrets and emotions. And all he saw then was resignation, and Shiro lost his previous thoughts to a sudden strange lurch in his stomach as he realised it.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Keith asked, head resting on the back of the chair.

“Sorry, I just… uh...” Shiro blinked and tried to find his words. “Do you like working here?”

Keith pressed his lips together in a contemplative gesture, spinning slightly in his chair. “Do you want my honest opinions?”

“Is that a _no_?”

“Well, it’s a _neither_. The work is okay. I don’t hate it. Would probably have preferred something else though.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know - something that’s fun. But that’s unrealistic.”

“Ever thought about going back to school?”

Keith laughed without mirth. “Isn’t a bit late for that?”

“Nothing’s ever too late, Keith. And it’s not a pipe dream either.”

“For rich people.” Shiro heard him mumble. While there was a lot of truth to that, Keith didn’t seem to hate the idea – actually it seemed like he had thought about it but never bothered to revisit it again.

“Why do you work here, Keith?” Shiro finally said.

“Where is this coming from?” Keith’s eyes widened as he forced a laugh, reaching for his mug that he left on the table and took a long sip, waiting for Shiro to drop it. But Shiro didn’t, and he persisted with his question by looking at Keith expectantly until he finally relented.

Keith sighed. “The job paid well. That’s all.” He left it at that and Shiro didn’t try to ask more.

Later on, they were locking up the office for the night, Shiro turned to ask. “How are you getting home?”

Keith glanced at his watch. “I should still be able to catch a bus at this hour.”

“You took a bus here?” Shiro raised his eyebrows. “But Ryou said you had a hoverbike.”

“Yeah, I do. Just… it broke down recently and I haven’t had time to bring it to repairs yet.” Keith sighed tiredly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need to get on that as well.”

“Do you… want a lift home then?”

“I… you sure it’s okay?” He cocked his head. Shiro could sense the hopefulness in his words, but also an undertone of hesitance.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. Your place isn’t that far out from mine.” Shiro shrugged nonchalantly, even if his insides were jumping in excitement as Keith went to the car with him.

The city was still very much alive when they left the building. People were heading out to bars for a late dinner, a catchup with old friends, and others were just getting ready for the nightlife ahead. It made him sound old, but Shiro could remember when he could be out with his friends from nine p.m. until five a.m. and could wake up without feeling like he needed to replace every organ in his body. Now, he goes to sleep at eleven, wake up at six and perpetually feel the need to for another ten hours of rest. But that was just growing up, he guessed.

Keith fell asleep in the passenger seat next to him, his head leaning against the car window and his features are occasionally lit up by the yellow street lights above. He was so tired that Shiro wondered how he was even awake for the time that they were at the office for. By the time that Shiro had reached Keith’s place, he was still sound asleep, and Shiro smirked a little when his car engine died and he could hear the slight snore that Keith was making.

He looked endearingly at the sight in front of him, but then he thought about what Keith had told him about his workplace and it reminded him of how much he wanted to punch Keith’s supervisor in the face. 

Keith could do better than this. Shiro remembered that brilliant mind from his youth that begs to learn and be so much more. It felt like Keith was still yearning for it deep down, but life had other plans that created too much obstacle for him to even hope again. 

Shiro sighed and got out of the car, carefully closing the door behind him so as to not create too much noise and jostle Keith awake. He pulled his overcoat around himself and breathed in the cold night air and took time to look at the surroundings. 

Keith’s apartment complex seemed nice enough - there was a park out front with trees and grass and a path winding within for people to walk or run on. There weren’t a lot of people out at that time of day with that kind of weather, though Shiro did coo to himself as he saw a woman walk pass with her dog. 

Keith shook awake violently and knocked the back of his head onto the seat belt holder, and it took all of Shiro’s will to not laugh at him. He hissed and looked out the window, realising that they were in the parking lot behind his apartment complex and turned to Shiro, embarrassed.

He stepped out of the car, slightly dazed. “Sorry, I… How long have we been here for?”

Shiro looked at his watch. “Ten minutes?”

Keith bit his bottom lip and stared awkwardly at the ground.“You could have… woken me up?”

“You look like you needed the nap.”

A hint of a smile crept onto his face, and Shiro barely heard the mumble, “Thanks.” 

That was too cute. Shiro grinned and jerked his chin towards the buildings, “You gonna go in?”

Keith quickly nodded and opened the door again to get his backpack out and they walked to the front doors of the apartment complex. He turned around to Shiro and spoke with a little more confidence than before. “Thanks for driving me home today… and helping me out. I owe you.”

“It’s no big deal. You _do_ owe me that dinner that you said we were gonna have at that barbeque place, though.” Shiro teased. 

“Yeah… sorry.”

“Nah, don’t be.” He waved him off. “I get it. Things happen and you cancel plans.”

“Yeah, but I’ve cancelled on you like four times so far within two months and that is an achievement, even for me.” Keith cringed. “I’ll make it up to you. Promise.”

“I look forward to that.” 

Keith smiled then straightened himself before finally said his goodbyes and headed inside. Shiro starred as his back until the elevator door closed behind him, then walked himself back into the car and drove home, hoping that the dusting of red on Keith’s cheek when he smiled wasn’t just from the cold air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took longer than it should have because 1) i had online exams that were scheduled at like 7am and i was stressing tf out through half of June and 2) there's something about the flow of this chapter which i don't like but idk how to fix and also there's important info in it that i want to put into the story but i don't know how to make it more interesting because it's very mundane.  
> I think that's the issue with trying to write a fic based on Something In The Rain, because a lot of that drama is about appreciating moments in life, which is so hard for me to write without being boring. 
> 
> (Also I think i might be getting a part time job at a plant nursery soon, so I really hope that turns out well because i just really like plants lately). 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. Leave me a comment to let me know what you think and I will reply (unless you tell me not to - which is fine, too!)


	3. Reminiscence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finally treats Shiro out for that dinner (with Romelle). Shiro and his mother disagrees - once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: A very offhanded mention of suicide, which isn't going to be a major theme in this story, dw. It's just briefly mentioned.

Keith had just walked out of his office building when he heard a car horn sound loudly. He turned towards it – Shiro’s car was parked across the street, and Shiro had his head stuck out the window, waving at him enthusiastically with a bright grin on his face.

“That’s new. Your boyfriend?” Acxa raised an eyebrow, looking at Shiro’s direction.

Keith waved back, “Best friend’s brother.”

Acxa made a subtle disappointed noise. “You sure? _That_ grin and he’s not your boyfriend?”

Keith rolled his eyes at her smirk and bid his goodbye and headed for the car. Shiro came out to open the door for him, and he laughed at Shiro’s gentlemanly antiques because Shiro was intentionally exaggerating as he welcomed him, “Your carriage awaits, sire.”

And if he had turned back at that moment, he would have seen Acxa’s gaping mouth as she watched them drive off.

_“You sure it’s safe to take that one?” James looked sceptically across the street where a blaringly red car across the street that was just waiting for them to hot wire. Keith gave him a hard, encouraging slap on the back._

_“You said you wanted to do something fun.”_

_“Yeah, like skip class to get food. Not skip class to get arrested,” James scratched his head and glanced around the streets worriedly. “You really sure about this?”_

_“Positive. I’ve never seen this car leave before five or six o’clock, so we’ll have plenty of time.”_

_James took another glance at the car again and steeled himself. Keith grinned as they faced each other, determined, and approached the red car_.

Noises echoed loudly from their table as Romelle belted out laughs and slapped her hand on the table repeatedly. She slammed so hard on the table that Keith was more worried about the integrity of the table than Keith’s own dignity as Shiro began to shit over Keith’s seemingly perfect image in high school.

The other tables at the restaurant looked at them in curiosity, and Keith could only shrink further into his seat.

“If I had known you were going to shit talk about me to Romelle _in front of me_ , I would have cancelled on you again.” Keith said into his drink, flushing to his ears and yelped as Romelle gave him a hard slap that felt as if it could break his ribs.

“Thank goodness you didn’t because this is absolute fucking gold.” Romelle wiped a tear from her eyes and shoved more meat into her mouth. “Shiro, give me more dirt on him. I want all of it.”

Shiro bursted into chuckles, as if almost willing to relent but Keith didn’t think he could handle another hour or so of sitting at the table with these two pulling up his most embarrassing moments in life. So he gave Shiro a hard glare and a motion at his neck for good measure, and grinned (internally) as Shiro cowered, pulled at his uniform’s collar slightly and politely declined Romelle’s request.

“I’ll tell you another day.” Shiro whispered as if Keith couldn’t hear him. But Shiro sometimes forget that Keith is, in fact, half Galra, meaning though his strength is possibly nothing comparable to Romelle’s fully Altean strengths, Keith’s hearing is much more sensitive than one would expect. He snuck a hand under the table and pinched painfully on Shiro’s thigh, making him jump suddenly and banging his knee on the table.

“What was that for?” Shiro hissed, rubbing at his knee.

“I don’t need you two to bully me when I’m off work.”

Romelle placed another piece of meat into his bowl. She turned to Shiro. “I kept telling him to quit his job but he won’t listen to me.”

“I’m comfortable with where I am right now, thank you very much.”

“Really? Then why do you keep complaining about that business trip you’re about to go on?”

“You’re going on a trip?” Shiro asked.

Keith pointed his fork at Romelle. “Complaining makes work bearable and therefore makes me more comfortable about it. If you don’t want me complaining about it, then don’t bring it up.”

“Keith’s going on a trip to Marmora with his supervisor.” Romelle almost sneered as she informed Shiro and Keith tried to ignore the conversation altogether.

The 2-days trip was only planned at the end of this week, and while Keith was a committed and hardworking employee, he would rather spend those two days in the office working by himself than being anywhere within a five metre vicinity to Sendak. No one wanted to volunteer for the trip, being the one to come in the latest to the morning meeting that day sealed his fate as Sendak’s victim next Thursday and Friday. Lance and Acxa gave him apologetic smiles, but even they didn’t want to risk having to go on that trip.

Nobody wanted to go for good reasons. Sendak likes to get away with whatever he can, and that includes being extremely handsy when their mutual aren’t around. Lance didn’t have lunch with them for a week straight after a business trip with Sendak one time because he didn’t want to see Sendak outside of working hours and lest he could punch the fucker in the face.

“1 day if business is quick. 2 days if it does drag out a bit longer.” Keith explained.

“3 days if Sendak decides he likes to keep you around.” Romelle rolled her eyes and Keith merely shrugged at her petulant mood. “The company’s paying for two rooms, right?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make much of a difference when I get dragged to client dinners though.”

“How are you guys getting there?” Shiro asked, concerned.

Keith almost forgot about that. “He’s probably taking the company’s car. I’ll probably take the train. Not spending anymore time than necessary next to him if I can help it.”

“It’s on Thursday and Friday, right?” Shiro was contemplative for a second. “I could drive you there.”

“Yes! Let Shiro drive you there.” Romelle immediately yelled.

As nice as it sounded, Keith found himself unsure as to whether to take Shiro’s offer. Shiro had been driving him home almost every night since that one Saturday where they stayed back late in the office. He hadn’t even asked but Shiro insisted with a stern look. Keith was too tired to argue after the third day and yielded to Shiro’s offer – “But only until my hoverbike is fixed,” he reasoned, and Shiro was positively beaming.

But getting a thirty-minute ride home was a bit different from a three-hour long drive to another city, and then staying back in said city for another two days to wait for Keith to do his work.

“Don’t you have work?” He gave him a confused look, but Shiro merely shrugged.

“I don’t have any simulations on Thursdays and Fridays. Someone can cover for my lectures, or I could have it recorded beforehand.”

“You sure you want to spend two whole days in Marmora with nothing to do though?”

“I can work anywhere with Wi-Fi. Just worry about yourself, first.”

“But… I was planning on staying back there for the weekend.” Keith hasn’t gone to Marmora in ages, and he had a sort of plan for the weekend by the coastal city. It was the beaches of his childhood summers after all.

“Oh.” Shiro said, if a bit disappointed. “I mean, I don’t mind, but if you don’t want me intruding then-“

“No, it’s not that you’re intruding. It’s just… you’re going to have to stay back even later than you want.”

“I’m fine with that. And I won’t intrude on your plans, promise!” Shiro was looking at him with that puppy-like expression again, waiting on his approval like it would change his world. And Keith melted at the sight, though still a bit weirded out by the fact that it shouldn’t feel like they have been friends since forever, but it does.

He had wondered before if it was just Shiro’s nature to be flirtatious, and he had flirted back jokingly whilst assuming so. But then that didn’t explain Shiro’s insistence in driving him home every night after work ever since he found out that Keith’s hoverbike wasn’t working.

He insisted. And Keith refused but reluctantly got in the car every day because Shiro was already parked out front before Keith even clocks out. He had once tried to make a run for the bus stop but Shiro had gotten out of the car and dragged him back despite his best struggles.

And it was then that Keith suddenly realised that Shiro might be genuinely trying to help and get to know him again like he used to. It was a beautiful gesture, but it also scared him.

“You sure know how to persuade people.” Keith commented and stuffed his mouth with a spoonful of meat. “I’ll think about it.”

Shiro chuckled across the table. “You’re an open book, Keith. Always have been. That’s why I trust you.”

Keith let out a laugh. “Really? Trust me? You used to sit on the grass to watch me clean the locker areas. You trusted me as much as you trusted a mugger.”

“I didn’t trust you to clean-up properly, but I trusted that you were a good person at heart.”

“Bullshit.” He snorted.

“What’s this about mugging?” Romelle raised her hand.

“Did I tell you about how we know each other?” Keith asked.

“Through Ryou?”

He shook his head fondly. “I stole his car.”

“He stole _my uncle’s_ car.” Shiro nodded.

“I stole _your uncle’s_ car that _you_ were using.”

Romelle made an impressed noise. “Damn Keith. Didn’t know you had _that_ in you.”

“It was red – that’s my colour.” Keith shrugged.

_Shiro stared at the car-less spot where he had left his car - or rather his uncle’s car - and sighed. His uncle was going to kill him if there were even the smallest scratch on it. Hell, his uncle scared him so much that Shiro made a list of things to remember while he had the car._

_Drive within speed limits, check. Wash the car regularly, check. Vacuum the seats, check. Check the car all over every day, check._

_Take the car to school and have it stolen?_

_Shiro let out a long groan and aggressively ruffled his hair. To think that the one day that he planned to go home early was the day he forgot to lock the car doors, and someone decided to hotwire it. He shook his head and looked at every corner of the street. There was no sign of the bright red car. He walked up and down the street, around the corner and pass the nearby supermarket near school – still no sign of it._

_With a last frustrated huff, he dragged his feet back to the school to get his bag, ready to just head home by bus. But just as he was rounding around the school gates, his uncle’s red car passed right before him and parked – if a bit amateurly – into the very spot where Shiro had left it._

_Shiro stood from a distance, crossing his arm as he looked for the assholes that had the audacity to take his car. He stalked towards them and acted casual as if he were merely a passer-by who happened to be there when two_ **_kids_ ** _got out of his car._

_The one with brown hair looked like he were about to throw up, and Shiro really hoped that he won’t be finding any vomit puddles in his car later. The other one with jet black hair and a white and red jacket was cheerily stepped out, glancing at his friend and rolling his eyes._

_“Pussy,” the boy with black hair said with no small grin._

_“Sorry for valuing my life,” the other boy replied, hand holding onto his head as he rounded around the car._

_Shiro whistled, and the two boys finally noticed him. “Nice ride,” he said._

_They looked warily at him. The brown-haired boy attempted a casual smile. “She’s a good one.”_

_And while Shiro would be proud when one complimented his (uncle’s) car, an exception must always be raised when the very ones complimenting your car is the one who took it for a joyride. Shiro smiled back, slightly fuming beneath his actual demeanour._

_“Where’d you get a car like that?” He asked, cocking his head a bit and stepping a bit closer to the pair. They barely reach his shoulders, and Shiro takes no small pride in being about to stare them down like this. Come to think of it, Shiro thought he might have seen the brown-haired boy in school before – they were probably in the lower year groups._

_The boy in the jacket gripped his friend’s arm, both looked at each other as if realising that they were about to get into some deep shit if they don’t escape soon. He looked back at Shiro with a calculated gaze, “You’re Takashi Shirogane, right?”_

_“You know my name.” Shiro raised his eyebrows._

_“Hard to not know the school captain’s name._

_“But apparently not hard to hot wire his car and take it for a spin.” Shiro smiled as the colour drained from the two boys’ faces. He chuckled at their silence and leaned against the car. “Hope she was up to your expectations at least.”_

_The pair looked at each other, and it was in the black-haired boy’s expression – in the intensity of those violet eyes – that Shiro anticipated their next move. They turned and sprinted away from him._

_Shiro ran after them, easily overcutting them and pulling them into a headlock as they ran straight into his outstretched arms. They thrashed and punched, but Shiro was undeterred. He held on tightly, and the boy with black hair straight up growled at him,_

_“Please don’t report us!” The brown-haired boy begged._

_“Really, that’s your best defence?” His friend grunted back._

_Shiro rolled his eyes. “Then what should be I doing with a pair of delinquents?”_

_The pair looked at each other again, their thrashing stopped and they were both breathing hard from struggling so much. “Anything.” The brown-haired boy said._

_“James!”_

_“We’ll do anything you say.”_

_Shiro hummed in amusement, “So if I were to tell you to do twenty laps naked around the school, you would do that?”_

_He laughed at the boy’s – James’ – paling face as he realised what exactly he had offered. His friend, on the other hand, was fuming, pulling so harsh against Shiro’s arm that it was starting to hurt._

_“Fuck you,” the fierce boy spitted, and Shiro decided to let James go in favour of catching his friend’s arm and twisting it behind his back._

_“That’s not very nice.” Shiro quipped, gritting his teeth slightly. “Should you be saying that to someone who’s about to report you to the police?”_

_“Don’t report us!” James shouted hurriedly. “Please. He’ll cooperate.”_

_“The hell I will!” His friend yelled back._

_“I’m not letting this get back to my dad! And it was your idea to take the car in the first place. Please, just… help me out here, man.”_

_That got him to stop struggling as he finally relented – but Shiro wasn’t quite convinced they were going to run off, yet. Shiro cocked his head at James. “What’s your name?”_

_“James Griffin.”_

_“You really had to be a goody two-shoes today?” his friend sneered._

_Shiro turned to the other boy, “And what’s your name?”_

_“Keith,” he heard the other boy grumbled under his breath._

_“Got a surname with that?”_

_It took a while, but Shiro was patient. Enough staring from James finally had Keith gritting out his surname, “Kogane.”_

_Shiro nodded, finally letting him go. Keith jumped from his grip and turned back to glare at him, rubbing at his arms painfully – Shiro’s entire arm was red and aching, but he wasn’t staring back at him as if he murdered his entire family. There was something almost wild in those violet eyes, but Shiro wasn’t about to comment._

_“You guys are in what? Seventh grade?”_

_Seeing their silence, Shiro concluded that his guesses were relatively correct. Who would have thought that kids of his brother’s age would know how to drive, already?_

_“Here’s the deal: either I report you to the police or school authority,” Shiro said slowly, watching the tense expressions of the two boys before him. “Or, you two do me an act of service.”_

_The two looked at each other worriedly and bordering on panic. He realised then that maybe his wording was just a tad too vague and a tad too suggestive._

_“It’s not what you think!” Shiro added quickly. “The seniors have a roster for clean-up duties at the seniors’ locker and kitchen areas. And since I_ **_so graciously_ ** _lent you my car for the afternoon, I’ll tell the coordinators that you guys agreed to be on clean-up duty for a week. How about that?”_

_James widened his eyes, “So you’re not going to make us run naked around the school?”_

_Shiro chucked. “Unless you’d rather do that, then sure. But I don’t think that’s particularly legal.”_

_“How do we know that you’re not just going to say this but then report us after?” Keith stared at him, and Shiro would have been intimidated if he were his age. But from Shiro’s height and seniority – as well as years of experience of dealing with bullshit – he merely shook his head amusedly._

_“You don’t. But why would I report you when it benefits neither party?” He shrugged._

_It was settled then, and James walked away a lot less repercussions than he had expected. Yet Keith stood there as Shiro got into the car, as if assessing something in Shiro’s back or demeanour. He knocked on his window and Shiro pulled it down._

_“You’re a really weird person, you know that?” Keith told him._

_“So I’ve been told.” Shiro replied._

_Keith nodded, respectful. “Thanks for being weird.”_

_Shiro grinned and started the car engine. He looked over to Keith one last time before he left, “You ever thought about joining the school’s tracking team?”_

“You really shouldn’t have endorsed that,” Romelle commented, peeling back a mandarin and handing it to Keith. “That drove our dad crazy for years because Keith won’t stop asking to go out. He was running more than our dog.”

Keith popped the mandarin into his mouth. “To be fair, our old dog didn’t even go for walks.”

There were many memories he held onto from his high school days. The most endearing would always be the time he spent with his dad, coming home to see him every day as his dad would occasionally be working late into the early mornings, leaving lunch duties for him to handle for both himself and Romelle. And there was also the few friends and acquaintances he made – James, Ryou, and of course, Shiro.

“You know, in his final year in high school, he ended up almost representing the city in some hotshot tracking competition, but then pulled out at the last minute because he was an idiot.” Romelle deadpanned.

Shiro cocked his head, confused. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“I got sick the week before the competition. Some sort of Galra-specific flu was going around and no one was bothered to tell me about it. Sort of like chicken pox – you get it at least once in your life and then it’s over.” 

Shiro wrinkled his nose in sympathy, and Keith may or may not have had to hide the urge to grin at how strangely adorable Shiro looked. _Adorable_ is a strange word to describe people of Shiro’s age, but Keith’s dumb brain can’t function after so much booze and food. So _of_ _course_ the only logical thing was to _boop_ that wrinkled nose.

Keith leaned over the table, reaching his hand out. For some reason, the table felt like it was much too long Shiro was sitting much too far away for his reach. But Keith had patience. He stretched his arm out with finger pointing and-

" _Boop_."  
  


Shiro blinked at where Keith’s finger was resting on his nose after he had _boop-ed_ it.

“Uh…” Shiro started, and it was finally then that Keith’s brain had caught up and he pulled it back sharply, his face flushing bright red.

Keith fidgeted with his hands and raked the table for anything to stop Shiro from looking so intensely at his face. He picked up his pint glass, but it had long been emptied of beer. So he placed it back down and tried to look anywhere but in front of him.

Romelle cleared her throat. “Right, so… I think Keith is properly tipsy now. We should get going, don’t you think?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah. I’ll get the bill.”

“No, you stay there. I’ll get it. You two have both had too much beer.” Romelle protested and left their table, leaving Keith to test how much more awkward he can make this situation.

Keith got too comfortable – his infatuated brain that never got over a high school crush is doing that little dumb thing called _getting attached_ again. And Keith doesn’t want that at the moment. He doesn’t want more issues in his mundane life, thank you very much.

But then he lifted his face, and saw Shiro still looking at him, concerned. And something in his chest aches. Shiro had always been something else from the beginning. Shiro was his first crush, after all. There was something about first crushes that makes one’s heart dances uncontrollably, even twenty years after you last saw each other.

“You really changed my life back then.” Keith mused.

“Really?” Shiro replied, a hint of a smile on the edge of his lips. And Keith almost wished he could get closer to touch it.

But he nodded instead. “Yeah. I don’t know what you did, but you managed to turn a kid who was disinterested in everything and turned him to an achiever within the one year.”

“I nudged you in the a direction.” Shiro laughed. “You’re not bad, Keith. You’ve always been smart, just demotivated.”

“No, really. Without you, my life would be a lot different.” Keith managed an easy chuckle. “You remember that time a few years ago when I texted you out of nowhere?”

“Not particularly. Remind me.”

Keith rested his elbows on the table and straightened himself. “My dad died when I had just finished my first semester of second year in paramedicine. And I wasn’t in the best mental state.”

That was an understatement. Second year had been a year of hell – in between finding out his _then_ boyfriend cheating on him, compromising on some naïve hope that people could change, ruining his mental and physical health as he bent over backwards for him, only to finally realise what kind of shit he was putting himself through for an asshole _after_ his dad had died.

Keith was close to slipping off a precipice. And he was hurted everywhere.

And then Ryou sent him a video of Shiro being dared to eat cereal with a _generous_ amount of cinnamon in it and consequently snorting milk out of his nostrils. His prosthetic gleamed under the fluorescent light, a bit different from his current one, but Shiro was laughing all the same, and so very _alive_.

Keith remembered laughing so hard his stomach hurted. And then he decided to send the video back to Shiro.

“I don’t know how you did it, but you picked up that I wasn’t okay.” Keith said. “And you told me to keep going, to follow my heart to where it was going to get me to where I needed to be, and where I might just be happiest.”

Shiro hadn’t known, but his words saved him. In that moment, Keith remembered the purpose of his career choice and what an irony it would be that he does the exact opposite of what paramedicine stood for. And Keith remembered Romelle's swollen face, snotty nose and red-eyed, huddled under a blanket with one of their dad's colleagues after the night that he died, and all the promises he made.

_"I'll take care of you,"_ he promised her.

_I'll take care of us both,_ he promised their dad's leftover echo in their lives. 

Shiro’s gaze on him now was so soft, so achingly tender that Keith felt himself sinking, holding onto his attention. Keith smiled at him, “I don’t think I could thank you enough for that.”

Keith cried for an entire day after texting Shiro. And he cried some more as he applied for discontinuation from his course. But with Shiro’s assurance and Ryou’s reluctant support, he might just be okay.

And he was.

And now he was sitting here, staring into Shiro’s dark eyes and on the verge of tearing up. Shiro stretched his arm out to ask for Keith’s hand, and they held hands across the table. Shiro gripped it tightly, “I’m glad that you kept going.”

“Me too.” Keith nodded. _Me too._

Shiro had a mouthful of food when his mother asked the god-awful question.

“So are you seeing anyone yet?”

Shiro swore he almost choked. “Mom!”

“What? You went out without telling me so I just assumed…”

“No! God no.” He looked at her with an incredulous expression, trying to swallow his food without getting it down the wrong pipe again. “I went out to eat with Keith and Romelle.”

“Oh.” His mother’s voice softened. “How are they? Still doing okay?”

“They’ve been okay for years now, Mom. I think they don’t need us worrying about them, honestly.” Shiro shrugged, shoving another spoonful of food into his mouth. “Did you know they live in district four?”

“Yes, of course. And I know they can take care of themselves, but I worry sometimes.”

“About what?”

His mother sighed softly, picking up her chopsticks and dug into her own lunch portion. “You know how I’ve always stressed the importance of meeting the right people?”

_A bit too much_ , if Shiro had the balls to say it. But he only nodded. 

“They’ve had a tough life - Keith especially. He’s been in the same place since he got out of university. If I was his mother, I would have told him to move to somewhere else where they might value his work more.”

“Funny enough, everyone had been telling him that.” And for that was perhaps the only thing Shiro could agree on with his mother.

She tapped him on the arm, “You still want to go back to Altea, right?”

“Yes, don’t worry Mom. Daibazaal is temporary.”

His mother nodded, seemingly relieved. “Good. The quicker you get back there, the easier it is to make connections and get back to where you were before. And-”

“Don’t mention _him_ , please.”

“I wasn’t going to talk about Adam,” she rolled her eyes. “But what if I was? You should be glad that I’m so worried about both you and Ryou in that aspect. Keith and Romelle don't have your privilege, and if anyone had half a mind to look at their future spouse’s family background, then it would be very hard for either of them to ever find someone that will even look their way.”

Shiro blinked, hoping he had misheard. “Mom, you know that social standings isn’t like the most important thing in the world, right? And what makes you think that there isn’t someone out there who would want Keith?”

“You say that as if that wasn’t the determining factor for your grandparents agreeing to my marriage.” 

“Times are different. Most people don’t care about that anymore.”

“They would if they had ambitions. You only get to have a good life with powerful friends, and powerful friends means making the proper friends. I’ve only tolerated Ryou and you hanging around Keith and Romelle because you’ve known each other since you were kids, and Romelle clings to me like a mother she never had.”

“Are you serious?” Shiro refrained from slamming his chopsticks on the table, and rested them on the edge of his bowl instead. 

“When do I ever joke about this, Takashi?” she said in such a casualness that made Shiro blood practically boil in his veins. He couldn’t sit here to hear another word of this. He was starting to somewhat regret his decision to move back home, and he shoved the rest of the food in his bowl into his mouth - trying to not choke - and left the table. 

“You’re done already?” His mother called out.

“I’m tired. I’m going to bed!” He could practically hear his mother’s sulk in the silence, but there was no changing her mind when she had made her judgments on something, and Shiro wasn’t about to even bother. Prejudices can't be can't be removed by arguments.

He was just about to sit down at his table when he heard a knocking on his door, and Ryou let himself lounging on his bed. He looked fresh out of bed despite the fact that it was far past noon - the perks of studying at a normal university and not a military institution. 

“What was that all about?” Ryou asked, scrolling through his phone.

“What? Mom and her extreme classism? What’s new?”

“Nothing. Just didn’t think you’d lost it so quickly.”

“She was talking about Keith and Romelle.” Shiro turned around in his spinning chair. “I just got sick of her looking down on people.

Ryou considered the words and nodded, staring around the room and assessing the way it is decorated. Shiro hasn’t made any major changes yet - he did finally get rid of the old textbooks on the shelves. The only thing he had unpacked were the picture frames and photo albums. Ryou glanced at the red umbrella by the wall, and then to Shiro, “Speaking of Keith, you’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately - even more so than me.”

“Maybe it’s because he likes seeing me more than your ugly mug.” Shiro huffed.

“Hah! Keep wishing.” Ryou smiled sarcastically. “But really though…”

Shiro reclined into his chair, making himself comfortable. “Maybe I am seeing him more, and maybe I like seeing him more.”

Ryou didn’t respond, instead giving him a long, serious look that Shiro couldn’t quite tell if it was good or bad. What would one’s reaction to their brother going after their close friend be, Shiro wondered. And when Ryou took a deep breath, Shiro knew he was going to know precisely that it wasn’t going to be good. 

“You think that’s a good idea?” Ryou asked.

Shiro shrugged. “Probably not.” _Probably yes_. Shiro hasn’t been able to be so at ease with himself for so long, and there was just something about Keith that made him want to spill his guts, knowing that he would be heard, regardless of whatever it is. 

“You thought about how Mom and Dad would think about that? You know how she views them like they are her own kids. 

“Mom pities them, Ryou. It’s not exactly the same.”

“She feels some responsibility for them like she does for us, Takashi. Did you think about that? What about me? How do you think I feel when I know you’re flirting with my friend from high school?”

“Am I not allowed to like people now?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Ryou swung his legs off the edge of the bed.

“No, that’s exactly what you meant. There’s literally nothing wrong with me liking Keith. He’s your friend, and he’s my friend. Our parents aren’t his parents. Tell me why it’s wrong for me to try and be with him.” Shiro stared him down until Ryou bristled and made for the door. 

“I don’t know. Just… think about what you’re doing, Takashi.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know everything is just so much exposition at this point because like... I dont know how to outline a good story apparently. More will be revealed about Keith.
> 
> I'm so sorry this chapter took so long. I just have a lot of things on my plate to juggle and I am not good at juggling. Who's the dumbass that cant balance work, school, and hobbies? Me.
> 
> And also who's in second year of uni and projected their dread about uni into their story? Also me. Though I am not suicidal - I am just very very done with uni work and my motivation levels are about as high as my IQ, which is to say not a lot...
> 
> ANYWAYS! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I probably wont be writing another one for long while (because exams are back at it already? the fuck?) Leave me a comment until then! I read all of them and I do get back to them.


	4. Indecision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro broods, is jealous and does not know what to do with himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. Lied. To you. And to myself, because I procrastinated so hard on uni work that I churned out 3k words.  
> I think I might be reducing the word count per chapter from here on because I feel like my story flows better in like 3k word chunks.

Shiro brooded into the next week because of his brother’s words. He brooded over his students’ work, he brooded over his coffee, he brooded over his colleagues asking if he wanted to join them for dinner at the pub downtown because it was Wednesday and they had special foods that night. He was not paying attention enough to say no to the invite, so before he could even react, Johnson was already giving him a hard slap on the back appreciatively for accepting to drive them both to the pub.

“Hang on, I can’t go,” he said.

Johnson pulled back and looked at him unhappily. “Really? You’re gonna miss out again? What is it this time?”

“I have a few errands to run, and I have a thing with my family.” He doesn’t. But he does have to pick up Keith from work. And Keith had agreed to have Shiro take him to Marmora tomorrow, so Shiro wanted a good night rest before the long drive. 

Johnson sighed. “But can you drop me at the pub then? It’s on the way back to the city anyways. Everyone else took a hoverbike and I took a cab here today.”

“Uh…” Shiro faltered where he shouldn’t have, and immediately Johnson smiled.

“Great! I’ll see you downstairs.”

So Shiro reluctantly gave his colleague a ride back, who had much to complain about his students’ assignments that had recently be submitted. Shiro had just gotten onto the high-speed shuttle when his phone rang and Keith’s name popped up in the car’s monitor.

Johnson cocked his head in curiosity, but Shiro ignored him, picking up the call on his phone instead through the car’s audio system.

“Hey Keith! What’s up?”

_“Hey! Where are you?”_

“I’m on the shuttle, should be getting off in like fifteen minutes. Why?”

_“I’ll be finishing up a bit early than usual today, so my team is planning on going out for dinner tonight – without my supervisor, of course.”_

“Oh.” Shiro schooled the disappointment in his tone.

_“Yeah, no need to pick me up today. You can go have a life for once.”_

“The audacity!” Shiro mock yelled with a good-natured chuckle. “Anyways, thanks for telling me. Have fun at with your team. I’ll see you early tomorrow then?” He ended the call after Keith’s confirmation and goodbye, and might have sighed too dramatically to be normal.

Johnson picked up immediately. “ _Someone_ just got cancelled on.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

“Well, does that mean you no longer have a plan tonight. Still not willing to join the rest of us?”

“I think I’ll pass. I’m a bit tired today.”

“You’re thirty-six, acting seventy, man.” Johnson clicked his tongue. “Come on, it might lift your spirit up a bit. Good food, good company, might even find someone pretty at the pub.”

“Is that the new norms now? Picking up one-night stands at a pub?”

“Well you can pick up one-night stands almost anywhere, to be honest. You go to the clubs for the younger ones, but you go to the pubs for the ones that pays their own rent and has a long lasting career and is willing to stick around for longer with you.” Johnson shrugged, and Shiro could only look at him with his most _‘what the fuck?’_ face.

Was Shiro getting too old to see the appeals one-night stands? Probably. But was he definitely not too old to recognise the blatant shaming that was making him quietly fume in his seat. Shiro just shook his head - it was not worth the effort to bring up. 

“You have your fun then, Johnson.”

He drove to the front of the pub and parked by the curb. The pub they chose was one Shiro hasn’t gone to yet, though not for lack of trying. Keith had been introducing him to various restaurants around the city, and Shiro savoured every new experience that he got to share with Keith. _The Tavern_ was simple out front, but it seemed like it was starting to crowd up as the end of the working hour was reached. Shiro eyed the place, mentally filing it away as potential dinner spots for another day.

Before he could tell Johnson to get out of the car, however, Johnson jerked his chin with an appreciative hum. “You’re gonna be missing out on a lot of opportunities today.”

Shiro turned towards the direction of Johnson’s gaze, and saw a group of white collar workers, one in particularly stood out the most with his rusty red sweater beneath a wool overcoat was Keith, hands tucked into his pocket as he braced himself against the wind.

Shiro gaped, and Johnson was smug as he reached for his bag in the backseat. “Right. I best be going then. Thanks for the ride. I’ll tell you how it goes on Monday, yeah?”

And before he could even process his actions, Shiro had words spilling out of his mouth, “You know what, maybe I’ll join you, after all.”

“Really?!” Johnson shouted, surprised but grinning. “Glad to know you still have it in you, Shirogane.”

Shiro tried to tell himself that it was purely because he wanted to say hi to Keith that he went, and not because of the growing jealousy in his gut at Johnson’s roaming gaze through the pub, looking for Keith and his colleagues.

Though what he should have done was make himself invisible, because Keith was the one who found him first and made a noise of surprise, pointing to Shiro. He said something to his colleagues before crossing the pub to make his way towards Shiro and his own colleagues.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Keith said to him in greeting.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here either.” Shiro grinned. “That’s your team?” He made a gesture towards Keith’s group, who are still trying to find a table, it seems.

“Yeah. We’re still trying to find a table. We didn’t make a reservation because this was pretty spontaneous.”

Shiro nodded, and finally noticed Johnson gaping like a fish at him. He waited for him to say something, but his colleague was only just leaning closer and closer to him. He awkwardly took a step back, and Keith cleared his throat at the extended silence, finally snapping Johnson out of his stupor.

Johnson straightened himself with a forced laugh. Then he put his hand out, “I’m Johnson - Shiro’s colleague. And I must say that office-wear has gotten a lot better than I remember it.”

Keith chuckled took his hand with a light shake. “Keith – Shiro’s friend. And I must say military uniform is not half bad on the right people.”

“Really? I do find them quite constricting. Would much prefer to have them off than on.”

“Excuse me.” Shiro blinked at Johnson, hoping his disapproval shows through how much he’s _not-glaring_ at his colleague. Johnson shrink slightly, but Keith laughed at Shiro’s expression. He had turned red at Johnson’s words, and Shiro felt something uncomfortable settle in his gut at that knowledge.

Then, one of Keith’s colleagues came over to them to tell Keith that they couldn’t get a table and they were planning on going some place else. Johnson immediately jumped in. “You guys could share a table with us.”

Keith blinked, looking up at Shiro. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Really, it’s no issue. There’s only three of you, and some of our friends also ditched at the last minute. There’s still plenty of space at the table.”

Keith made a noise to protest, but his colleague cut him off. “Yes! Please, if you don’t mind.”

“ _Lance_.”

“Yes, that’s my name. Pleasure to meet you both, by the way.” Lance held out his hand to Johnson, who shook it firmly, and then to Shiro, who shook it with much less enthusiasm because his gaze was still fixed on Keith’s flustered face. Shiro gave him a sympathetic look, but it would be wrong to say that he was entirely against the idea of being able to spend time with Keith that night. Shiro dreaded and welcomed the idea.

Things went a lot better than Shiro expected. Conversations were easy within the group, and Shiro got to sit next to Keith, which was all that he really asked for that night. Johnson sent him a text, nudging his foot under the table for him to check it.

_‘Hook me up with Keith.’_

Shiro rolled his eyes and turned his phone down to the table. But then Johnson didn’t need Shiro’s permission to try to get closer to Keith. He was blatantly obvious in his flirting, so much that one of Shiro’s colleagues excused themselves early to not have to deal with it.

And Shiro wished he could also leave, and he probably would have if Keith wasn’t still sitting here, laughing and talking to Johnson. Shiro nursed his beer, chewing slowly on his food and hoping that paying to his grinding teeth would make his jealousy settle a bit.

Everyone was curious as to the sudden additions to their table, though. “Keith and I went to the same high school – he was my brother’s classmate, and our families know each other.”

“Oh, you guys are basically like brothers then.” Johnson pointed out, his voice hopeful. Shiro looked at Keith, hoping that he would see him answer first, but then Keith was expectantly looking at him some sort of answer as well. Shiro couldn’t quite understand what was in Keith’s gaze, but he wanted to tell Johnson at that moment to fuck off because Keith hasn’t been a brother since he saw him again sitting on the grass on campus – it was something more profound than that.

But Ryou’s words were still clinging to him like a shroud, and he felt himself hesitating, prosthetic gripping his beer glass tightly as he took a long gulp before answering. “Yeah. I guess we sort of are. We’re basically family.”

“You’re gonna have to ask for his blessing, Johnson.” One of their colleagues snickered and the rest of the table followed. Shiro’s was a half-assed smile that looked as depressing as it felt. He looked to Keith, who was only downing his drink, his face red and Shiro wasn’t sure if it was because of the beer or because of the comment.

“I’ll make my own decisions, thank you very much.” Keith finally said, and the entire table made an impressed noise.

“Got anyone on your mind yet?” Johnson smirked as he asked.

Shiro could feel his heart rate rising in anticipation. Keith thought about it for a while, then slowly nodded, and Shiro felt a lump rising in his throat.

“But you’re not with this person?”

Keith shook his head. “It’s… complicated.”

“Really? You don’t seem like the person who would make things complicated.”

“Well, I’m not. I’m sure of my feelings. I’m just not sure about his.”

The table gave a unanimous pitying noise. “If you’ve pulled all the moves but they’re not responding, then there’s a high chance it won’t work out,” Lance said, definitely half tipsy.

“They’ve been pulling the moves, really. And I’ve been reciprocating.”

“Well then why are you saying that it’s complicated?”

“Because I don’t know his intentions.” Keith said with some undertone of frustration in his voice. He was strung as taunt as a bow string, and Shiro felt the same with every words Keith revealed about his hesitation and doubts. “I don’t know. I just… thought it was something but then he said something else and now I don’t know what to think.”

“Maybe he’s confused.”

Keith turned slightly to Shiro and had that same expecting look again, waiting for Shiro to say anything as if to prove him wrong. But then Shiro made no move to say otherwise, and he saw Keith subtly deflating, feigning nonchalance with a shrugged, “Maybe.”

“My mother always told me one thing, and it’s to never wait for men who don’t know how they feel. Because once they know that you’re into them – it’s like a switch in our brain.” Johnson clicked his hand. “The cat is bored of the chase. They make their decision, and you become just another game to them. Men who knows what they want, however, they go after it until they get it. And when we get it, we keep it.”

“You think I can do better?” Keith raised an eyebrow, and Johnson nodded.

“I know you can do better.”

Shiro had to calm his urge to take another swig from his now empty glass. He had an urge to lash out, but then Johnson was right. Shiro doesn't really have the right to comment lest he was going to out himself.

Keith gave an smirk, shaking his head, and Shiro could see the heaviness in his eyes. 

“We’ll see. Maybe I’ll just be a loser at the end of all of this.”

The drive back was quiet with only the noises of passing cars and the heater in the car to accompany them. Keith stared out the window the entire time, his gaze distant and his mind in some thoughts that Shiro wasn’t privy to, and Shiro didn’t have the guts or energy to ask that today.

When they got to the parking in Keith’s apartment, Keith remained seated for a while without making a move to get out, and Shiro didn’t have the heart to tell him to. He wanted to say something – anything just to reverse whatever he meant at dinner.

But then Keith blurted, “I’ll go to Marmora tomorrow by myself.”

Shiro reeled his emotions back to absorb the sentence. “What?”

Keith turned to him slowly, his face devoid of any of the emotions that Shiro had gotten so used to seeing. “I’ll go to Marmora by myself.”

“What’s this about, Keith?"

"Nothing. I just think it might be easier for the both of us if-"

"It’s not a bother to me, I promise. It’s the least I could do to help you.”

“Because I’m family, right?”

“ _Of course,_ you are.”

Keith turned away from him then, staring out the window again. There was something sad in his eyes that Shiro couldn’t explain. “Whatever. I’ll take the train.”

“That’s a four-hour train ride, Keith.”

“Not that much of a difference. I’ll just take the 4am train. I’ll be there in the morning for the meeting.”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.”

Keith sputtered. “How am I ridiculous? I’m literally doing the best course of action.”

“The best and easiest one would be to let me take you in my car. “

“I could go in the company car with my supervisor. You don’t have to do that just because you feel the need to be my guardian, Shiro. I’m not your ward, and I haven’t been your junior since you graduated.”

“I’m acting as your friend, Keith. And I worry about you. I don’t want you have to be in the same room as your supervisor more than necessary. Are you sure you want to sit for four hours in the car with him?

Keith huffed dryly, “Well, no, obviously. But-“

“Let me help then. I’ll drive you out. We already booked the rooms, and I’ll pay half of it if you want. We can take some time to spend on the beach too.”

“What? Like a scene out of some romcom?” Keith huffed.

Shiro knew he was going to make a wrong move, but he wasn’t thinking about much at the point. He grabbed Keith’s arm. “Why not?”

“What do you mean why not?”

“Why can’t we be something out of a romcom?”

Keith stared at him, incredulous. “Were you even listening to yourself? Shiro, I don’t know what you want right now, alright. You told your colleague that I was basically family to you, and you just said exactly that to me five minutes ago. What do you want me to be? Your brother? Your brother’s friend? Your boyfriend? What? Because I’ve spent the entire night questioning everything that you’ve said.”

Shiro blinked at him in shock, but he doesn’t blame him either. His colleague was right, Shiro doesn’t know what he wants because there was too many issues involved with going after what he wants. He says one thing then do another, and then turns around to make even himself confused. It was getting a bit late to be thinking about this.

He rubbed the back of his neck consciously, sighing. He wanted to confirm it right then and there, but then held his tongue and said instead, “I'm sorry."

Something shifted in Keith’s expression, and Shiro saw the hurt creeping into those eyes immediately. He looked as if he wanted to cry, and some part of him wanted him to. If he would scream or cry or just slap Shiro across the face or anything, maybe then Shiro would finally realise his stakes. Maybe would have the courage to tell him everything.

But then Keith only nodded and swallowed the emotions that were blatant on his face. He forced a wry laugh instead. “Whatever you say Shiro.”

Keith turned around and walked into his complex without looking back to say goodbye. And Shiro drove off with Keith’s hunched, retreating figure in his rear-view mirrors. His heart felt heavy and his hand shook on the steering wheel, but Shiro drove on in the yellow tint of the streetlights, unknowing of Keith heaving dry sobs into his hands as he slumped at the foot of his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy crap i've finally reached one of the very first scenes I've ever written for this story ahhhhh~!
> 
> And if you think that i have too many eating scenes in this story, it's because that's pretty much the easiest excuse for 2 people to go out together, just saying. It's a social thing in most cultures.  
> And also the OG Korean name for "Something in the rain" literally translates to "Pretty Noona that Buys Me Food." Hence i give you *waves hand* eating-scenes-that-will hopefully-reduce-from-here-on-out.
> 
> Thanks for reading! (pwease giv me comments, i luv them - and you :3)
> 
> Next time: Keith and Shiro goes to Marmora!


	5. (Un)certainties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Shiro goes to Marmora and have a talk. Other things ensue at Keith's work.

Shiro was already at the front of Keith’s apartment at six a.m. the following day and Keith let him put his luggage into the back and got into the front seat without another word. His eyes were still puffy, which he hoped Shiro won’t notice, and he slept the entire time to Marmora as to avoid having to make conversations about the sore topic from yesterday.

He held himself together at the pub, but then ended up completely breaking down in Shiro’s car after. Keith wanted to bang his head against the wall for having thought Shiro was doing all because of anything more than from the goodness of his heart. He hasn’t done much to suggest otherwise, and Keith felt so stupid when Shiro said those three words.

_“We’re basically family.”_

Fuck that. Fuck Shiro. Fuck everything. Keith was tired, and he was going to sleep it off.

They got to their accommodations by a little pass 9 a.m., but Keith had slept pass that whilst Shiro checked them in by himself.

Shiro dropped him off at the his workplace, and Keith was definitely fussing over his clothes and appearance in the parking lot, which Shiro seemed to have found rather amusing if the way he he easily draped himself over the steering wheel was anything to go by. His chin rested on his hand as he stared at Keith checking over his hair.

He seemed to have picked up on Keith mood this morning and Keith appreciated how carefully he treaded around it. Their ride here had been silence, and Shiro looked rather tired from the hours of driving. It almost made Keith feel bad for him – if Keith still wasn’t also tired from yesterday’s events that is.

Shiro was making a slightly dopey expression that Keith desperately wanted to not notice. He turned away to pull his hair into a pony tail instead, and asked, “What are you going to do while I’m gone?”

Shiro shrugged. “Probably stay in the car and wait until you come back.”

“You look tired. You could go back to the hotel first.”

“I’m fine. Nothing coffee won’t fix.”

“I’ll be there until afternoon at least.” Keith hummed disapprovingly. “Go somewhere. The city’s big, there’s going to be something that will entertain you. I’ll call you when I’m finish.”

“I have work to catch up on anyways. Some student assignments to mark.”

“Go to a café. Don’t sit in the car. It’s cold.” Keith suggested, sleeking back his hair, and as if by habit he turned to Shiro so he could check his appearance. Their eyes met, and Keith slightly cursed himself for it, but he got a glimpse of Shiro’s brilliant, dark eyes – like black pearls, he thought.

“Do I look okay?” He asked.

Shiro looked at him for a bit then leaned over to fuss up the baby hair at his hairline and the side of his ears. Then he nodded, satisfied. “Perfect.”

Keith didn’t expect that and the intensity of Shiro’s gaze and the gravel in Shiro’s voice. It was doing something to Keith’s barely functioning circuitry, and he stuttered out a quiet, “Oh,” before turning away to put on his jacket, hoping his flush wasn’t too apparent.

“You feeling better?” Shiro cocked his head.

“Yeah. But even if I wasn’t, I have to be.” Keith shrugged and turned to grabbed his backpack, but then the sudden coldness of Shiro’s prosthetic seeped through the fabric of his forearm. Shiro was looking at him worriedly.

“What?” He asked curtly.

Shiro opened his mouth to say something, but then seemingly decided against it when he closed it, then said, “Nothing. We’ll talk about it later.”

Keith agreed because he really didn’t want to deal with all the possible emotions in that he saw flashing in Shiro’s eyes just yet. He was a coward, even if he wanted himself to believe otherwise.

Keith ended up getting out of work a little bit after five and walked out into the chilly late afternoon air. The sky was already beginning to darken into evening. It was cold, and Keith did not think of how cold it was going to be that day when he chose the thinner overcoat.

He heard the familiar loud car horn when he got out of the building and turned to find Shiro sticking his head out the window again, waving aggressively like a puppy. And _God_ , Keith was endeared by how absolutely dorky that stupid smile on Shiro’s face was. He almost forgot what happened the day before.

They decided to hit a local seafood restaurant for dinner by the beach that was half an hour drive, through which Shiro was more silent than he expected. When Keith had finally mustered enough courage to ask, they had arrived at the restaurant already and his words dissolved on his tongue.

“You hungry?” Shiro asked.

Keith shrugged. “Not really.” His stomach growled loudly, and he felt his face going a furious red when Shiro was trying to hide his amusement.

“Sure.” Shiro smirked.

“Shut up.”

They all but devoured their food with minor conversations in between because the food was simply _that_ good, and they were both skirting around the topic. But much like his food, their interactions from the day before and this morning was still sitting uncomfortably in Keith’s gut, and he wanted to.

Keith waited outside whilst Shiro paid the bills, standing at the edge of the sidewalk and staring out into the beach before him. The waves were soothing, a calm rush inwards and outwards in the sand that was soft in his ears, background noises that made him want to just sleep right then and there if it weren’t for the fact that it was freezing and Keith was not dressed for the weather.

“Wanna head down there?” Shiro asked when he emerged, flicking his chin towards the sea.

“What? For a soak?”

“No. Just a walk. Or a sit if you want. Why go to the beach if you aren’t going to enjoy it, right?”

Keith shrugged and relented, letting Shiro lead them down to the sand and for an admittedly small walk. Neither of them started a conversation – Shiro too entranced by the moon’s reflection in the waters, and Keith too entranced by the shine of Shiro’s white hair in the moonlight, sweeping in the wind.

He almost lost his breath when Shiro suddenly turned back to him, serenity in his face and a gentle smile on his lips. Keith had to remind himself to feign ignorance and look away. But he was still acutely aware of how close they were to each other, so close their hands almost brushed when they walked, and it took all his restraints to not take Shiro’s hand then.

He shivered as a wind blew pass, shrinking in his overcoat.

“You cold?”

“I severely miscalculated how cold it was going to be today.” Keith nodded. “Let’s sit down. I don’t think I can walk anymore with all this food sloshing in my stomach. And also, I’m freezing!” 

“Did you even eat that much?”

“Can’t you hear? My stomach is like its own marine environment in there now. All the crabs I ate is just crawling around in there.” He patted his stomach and leaned back on his hands. Shiro was still standing, looking at him with a strange expression.

“Sit down please? You’re making me nervous.” He said again and patted at the spot next to him, finally seeing Shiro take tentative steps closer. There was a tension here that was lasting far too long for Keith’s taste, especially when Shiro decided to sit right next to him, hip to hip, and took his arm out of one of his coat’s sleeve to wrap it around Keith, pulling them close.

“This okay?” Shiro asked, and Keith nervously nodded. The inside of the jacket was warm, and the heat radiating off the body beside him was comforting. But then Keith was _touching_ him, Keith’s shoulder was resting slightly against Shiro’s chest, which sent his imagination running a bit wilder than he wanted.

“I can’t even recall the last time that I’ve been to the beach,” Shiro grumbled like an old man, and Keith couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Didn’t you ever go to the beach in Altea? Lance was always crying to me about how pretty the beaches in Altea were.”

“They are. But I don’t go often. I think the last time I went was a vacation with my ex. But we never went to the beach after I got my prosthetic because sand would get in the joints and it was a pain to get it cleaned.”

“Oh...then should we be here? Are your joints going to crack like the old man that you are?”

Shiro flicked Keith’s ear and Keith yelped. “Hey!”

“You deserved that for calling me old.”

“But you are!”

“Six years older, not like twenty.” Shiro pouted petulantly, and Keith desperately wanted to put his lips on that pout. He turned back to the ocean instead, hoping Shiro doesn't notice his cheeks warming. "Whatever you say old timer."

“When was the last time you went to the beach, then?” Shiro continued.

Keith was pensive for a moment, wondering if he should reply, if he should tell Shiro about one of his most treasured memories in life. Shiro already knew so much about him, and Keith wondered how much of himself could he give to Shiro before things came back to destroy him. That was what happened yesterday, wasn’t it? He opened his heart to be let down without even realising that he was opening it to the wrong person.

But was he wrong? Keith was a person of instinct and he was told that he was a good judge of character. He had only been wrong once, but then when he was wrong, it had been disastrous. But Shiro was strange, he had been strange since the beginning. And looking at him now in the bare lighting of the moon and the slight yellow twinge of the streetlights, something in Keith made his heart beat faster.

He looked to the waves – the movements of their push and pull, soft as they seemed but powerful enough to take him to the sea and never return. Keith wanted to be right about what he had seen as Shiro’s attempts to get closer to him. Keith wanted to take this possible chance and turn it into something better. He didn’t want to stop here.

He took a deep breath. “When I was little. I came here - to Marmora. My mom grew up here. So she would take us back here to a family beach house.”

Shiro nodded, similarly in thought as he stared to the barely visible horizon. “You don’t talk a lot about your mom.”

“What’s there to talk about? I can't remember her anymore. She left us when I was ten. She didn’t even come back for my dad’s funeral when I sent out the news.”

“But your dad never resented her.”

Keith’s hand reached for his chest, underneath the clothes were the indentations of a pair of dog tags, one of which spelled the name of his father, and the other of his mother – _Krolia Kogane._ “He never did. And I never understood why. She didn’t die in some heroic way. He just said she was out there doing ‘good’, and never told me the story before he died.”

“Sounded like he was waiting for her to come back.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, it sounded like the kind of unwavering trust that you find in movies, honestly.”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, that’s my pops, alright - realist on the surface but romantic at heart. Wished she knew that though.”

“You resent her?”

He nodded. “Sometimes I wished that she would have just died heroically like my dad did. Just so at least I could resent both her and my dad for being heroes and be proud of them both. But all the memories I have of her is of how amazing she was, until she left without an explanation.

“You know, my dad said that she was a pilot, too. I guess if I were to ask, then I would probably be able to track her down. And I want to believe that she is out there somewhere doing something important like my dad said. But what kind of work could keep you from your family for twenty-five years?” Keith shook his head.

Keith remembered warm sunsets and strong but tender arms taking his hands as he walked down the beach, over small sand dunes and the colourful shells that littered the coastline. He remembered the softness of his mother’s voice, and it only worked to make him ache and hurt more than it soothe him because the image he remembered was such a stark difference to the conclusion he had given himself. But it was just as awful to remain hopeful as his dad was, constantly waiting for someone that might never return.

“I wanted to believe that she loved us, but… all I could conclude was that: she’s either dead, or she just doesn’t want us anymore.” Keith hadn’t even realised his cheeks were wet until Shiro was wiping a tear off his knuckles and looked at him with concern. He simultaneously wanted to push his hand away and lean into it, because something about the way he was looking at Keith felt more than just some familial concern, the tenderness from is touch too much to be a friend.

Keith jerked away from Shiro’s hand, and Shiro looked similarly perplexed at Keith’s sudden reaction, pulling his hand back apologetically as if finally realizing his actions. And Keith has had it with uncertainties in his life.

“Why do you do these things, Shiro? Like… you drove me all the way here on a weekday even though I know you have work; you pick me up from work and drive me home; you listen and talk to me and gives me look that makes me feel like-“ _I’m loved_. Keith wanted to say but couldn’t finish. “And every time I take a step towards you, it’s like I misread everything, and you took ten steps back.”

Shiro stared at his hands – the Altean one humming just slightly. He looked tired when he mumbled something too faint for Keith to hear.

“What?”

“You weren’t misreading.” Shiro said. “I’ve been having a lot of thoughts it.”

“About what?”

“You. Me. All this; and what it could mean for us.”

“There’s an _us_?”

“I want there to be.” Shiro finally turned to him, longing in his gaze but at the same time, there was conflict in something that Keith haven’t known of yet. “Keith, I like you. I really, _really_ like you.”

“Then why-“

“But I wonder if it’s a good idea for us to be together.”

Keith couldn’t understand. “Why? Because of my family?”

“No!” Shiro denied immediately. “It’s because of mine.”

“What do you mean? I know your parents. And Ryou doesn’t actually hate me, even if he kept telling you that.”

“That’s the issue, Keith. You were like a little brother to me back then. And my parents saw you as their own."

 _Not to mention my mom's attitude towards your family,_ Shiro thought but didn't say.

“But I’m not your brother.”

“You’re not.” Shiro said defeatedly.

“What are you trying to say here?”

“I have no idea either.” Shiro groaned and rubbed his forehead on his knee. When he looked up, he was positively frustrated, but Keith found it strangely funny. He continued, “Ryou said he found it a bit awkward that I was flirting with one of his close friends, and since mom and dad likes you so much and basically saw you like their own kid,… imagine how weird it would be if the kids you raised decided to start dating?”

“But I’m not your brother, though.”

“I know! Which is why I’m so frustrated because I don’t want to make this anymore awkward for them, but then that ended up hurting you.” Shiro dropped his face into his arms, hiding himself. “I was thinking about why you could be mad yesterday. And then I realised why a while ago when I was waiting for you.

“I didn’t mean it like that yesterday. _Of course_ you’re like my brother, but you’re more than that as well. It’s just-” Shiro waved his hand, unable to find an expression for his thoughts.

Keith could understand the sentiment – he loved Shiro’s parents, and though Romelle casually calls them her mother and father, having grown up without enough parental figures, Keith knew enough and could only consider them a close aunt and uncle at best, even if they have given Keith so much.

He shifted in Shiro’s hold, prompting him to lift his head. Keith wanted to laugh at him, at how utterly puppy like he looked despite being the giant hunk of mass that he was but refrained and forced it into an amused smile instead. “I think you’re concerned about something that hasn’t happened yet, even though you should probably be concerned with what’s happening now.”

“What’s happening now?”

“ _Me_.” Keith whispered with a newfound confidence before leaning in to place a small peck on Shiro’s lips and giggled slightly as Shiro’s face bloomed red. For someone who had been married once and was in his mid-thirties, Shiro made Keith feel like he was back in a college romance, where everything was exciting.

But despite that, some things were still predictable, like that moment when Shiro’s eyes flicked to Keith’s lips and his flesh hand reached to pull Keith into another kiss – soft, warm, but intense and consuming. And Keith met him there, holding onto Shiro’s wrist, focusing on the feel on his lip, the burning searing touch on his skin, and hearing his heartbeat in his ear.

He felt alive with every movement Shiro made. The hands holding his face slid down his shoulder and around his body, cold even through his shirt, and Keith shivered, wrapping his arms around Shiro’s neck and threw his legs over Shiro’s, straddling him. He needed this. Keith wanted this so much, possibly ever since he had a glimpse of Shiro playing basketball on the court with the sleeves of his white button-up rolled up.

But before Keith could even think about the wind picked up violently and they both had to turn away from the wind as it whipped at their clothes and hair. Shiro wrapped his overcoat around Keith’s smaller frame to shield him from the cold, but the noise was almost deafening when the wind and waves combined into the entire brass section of an orchestra. When the wind had finally died down, Shiro turned to him and grinned as Keith cursed.

“Fuck, there’s sand in my eye.”

“What? Where?” Shiro pulled his chin towards him.

“Right eye, do you see it?”

And perhaps of all the things Keith thought he would be doing on a Thursday night, screaming about sand in his eye whilst Shiro tries to blow it out wasn’t exactly one of them. But Shiro was positively giddy every time Keith whined because _there’s sand everywhere and he hates the beach_.

And things were finally feeling right.

Keith held the wine glass in his hand swirling it slightly just to find something to do as he took a tour of the bungalow. It was admittedly nicer than he expected with its vintage lamps and old-looking paint job. But perhaps what was confusing was how there was only one bed in room. He smirked at the conversation he was going to have with Shiro.

He had made his entire assessment of the accommodations by the time he returned to the living room to find Shiro on the couch, head tucked into the corner and breathing slow. Keith swore that he had only left for five minutes while Shiro said he was going to look through the TV’s catalogues.

He rummaged through the closet to get a spare blanket and draped it on top of Shiro, and squatted before the couch. His eyes ran over he lines of Shiro’s face, the squareness of his jaws, the sharpness of his cheekbones that gave him the urge to pick up a pencil to draw him.

Keith huffed. He felt like he was floating in the moment, as if his surroundings weren’t quite real, but Shiro’s presence here was very much real. He hadn’t felt like this since college, which was funny because he has had a few relationships since that particular one that he thought that butterflies were just things for the younger kids. But then the flutter and heat in his stomach now had told him otherwise. Maybe it was the fact that Keith had once had a major crush on Shiro when he was younger.

Keith told himself it was that, because he didn’t want to entertain the idea that it was because Shiro was just so terribly different and wonderful that it reminded him of something that he thought he had forgotten. That felt too quick. And Keith doesn’t want to fall that quickly.

So instead he took one last look at Shiro and downed the rest of his wine before going to bed.

Shiro made breakfast the next day – not in bed, Keith mourned, but that was fine because his heart was just getting ahead of his head again. Keith teased with a mischievous grin. “When did you change the room to a one-bedroom bungalow?”

Shiro almost choked on his coffee. “I-uh… There’s an explanation for this.”

“It's almost as if you were hoping for something to happen.”

“It’s not what you think.” Shiro said nervously. “They told me the guests who took the rooms we were supposed to stay in extended their booking and someone approved it without checking. So I took the next best alternative, which is this one.”

“Whatever you say, Shiro.” He gave him a disbelieving smirk.

“It has a pullout couch!”

“I know.”

“It’s the truth!”

“Sure. Like how I was definitely not aroused yesterday when I was on your lap.” Keith blinked. Shit, he said that out loud. He _did_ _not_ intend to say that out loud, and now he was screaming internally as he watched Shiro rub his neck in embarrassment.

_Too soon, Keith. Way too soon._

“Sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. It was kind of flattering, honestly.” Shiro chuckled, his ears still a blooming red and a pleased smirk on his face. “You want to go out again tonight, or do you want to stay in?”

“You’ll cook?”

“No, I would burn the house down.” He laughed. “We’ll order in.”

“ I kind of want to eat out again, I think.” Keith hummed. “But I can’t make any promises, since we’re wrapping up on work here today so Sendak might want to go out with our colleagues – which I really don’t want to join so I’ll try to find a way out.”

“Sure. Just tell me beforehand, yeah?”

And just as Keith expected, Sendak asked him to join the team for dinner – “Good for inter-branch relationships,” he said, though Keith could only feel cold dread trailing down his spine at Sendak’s voice.

He expected and saw Sendak giving him a _pressuring_ look.

“Thank you, but-“

“What?” Sendak cut him off. “The heater was quite loud, I couldn’t quite hear you.”

Keith exhaled a long breath, hesitant and understanding of his wishes, but warnings before the trip was ringing in his head.

 _Easy to say when he wasn’t standing right in front of Sendak_ , Keith thought.

“Sorry I can’t join you for dinner. You’re welcome to spend more time with the team but I’ve finished my job for the day. I’m going to be leaving.” He told him.

Sendak blinked and his mouth quickly turned into a sneer. “Your job is done? Since when is it done?”

“Is it not?” Keith blinked innocently, feigning complete obliviousness. “I went through all the documents from today and sent them back to head office already. Unless it’s mandatory to be at an _unofficial_ team dinner then I don’t know what other job I should be doing.

“You _know_ what other roles you have in the team.”

“Do I? Because do tell me, Sendak, because I truly don’t know.”

“ _Kogane!”_

“If you’re implying that I should go to serve you as your _personal_ _assistant_ then you can ask our client to pay for that instead of ask me because I’m not paid enough to deal with that.” Keith smiled and side stepped him to leave.

“Next time I’ll tell Acxa to go with me if this is how uncooperative you’re going to be.”

Keith went still. He could feel Sendak’s grin behind his back at getting a reaction out of him.

“She would have probably done a better job than you at this anyways. I should have told her to go instead.”

Keith almost sneered his next words, venom filled and close to fuming. “Is that your best move?”

“It _this_ your best move?” Sendak said and walked around him, bumping Keith’s shoulder roughly in the process. “We leave at six. Make sure to stick around until then.”

Keith felt so frustrated that it overrode how sick it was to have that conversation at all. He texted Shiro with shaky fingers and was glad that Shiro couldn’t see what an absolute mess Keith was at the moment. Shiro’s reply was quick.

_That’s okay. We can always do it another day  
Just be careful :<_

The dinner itself was uneventful before the booze came out. Keith had intentionally seated himself furthest away from Sendak as reasonably possible. But of course he failed to account for the fact that Sendak was a loud drunk that moved around the table a lot when he shouldn’t be. One minute he was sitting, the next he was waving his beer about as he approached Keith and the person next to him, incessant on making himself look better in front of their mutual.

“Kogane’s been whining about me all evening hasn’t he?”

Keith and his colleague almost choked, and his colleague shook their head fervently. “Of course not! That would be ridiculous.”

“You don’t have to lie. If anything, Kogane knows how to work best with me, but he absolutely hates me. Isn’t that right?”

Keith had nothing to say to that, so he picked up his pint glass and drank slowly to avoid having to answer. Sendak was still eyeing him for any reaction to mess with though. And then he smirked and straightened himself, swaying on his feet and promptly fell over Keith, his hands splaying over his chest as the contents of his drinks spilled all over the front of Keith’s shirt.

Keith violently shoved him off but failed to notice Sendak’s grip on his shirt. The shirt went with Sendak’s grip, and the top two buttons flew onto the floor as Sendak fell backwards. Keith’s front is entirely soaked in ice cold beer, clinging to his skin in the most uncomfortable way. His dress pants were also drenched at the crotch. He glared at Sendak grabbed all the paper towels that were handed to him gratefully. Sendak he stared back, apologising as it he had done something innocuous and acted more drunk than he was.

Keith would know. He had been to enough team dinners to know.

He wanted to scream at the pathetic asshole in front of him then. First this trip, then the threats, then this. Keith wasn’t sure if he was going to lose his shit right then or not, but he felt emotions rising in his throat, begging to be let out. But he gritted his teeth when his colleague gave him a pitying look, and excused himself to the bathroom.

He slammed the doors to one of the booths close and locked it. Then he pulled out masses of paper to dab away the moisture in his shirt. Not that it did much to help him smell less like beer or lessened how grossly it stuck to his skin, but at least it stopped Keith from punching the wall.

“ _Fuck._ ” His breath hitched as struggled to keep his breathing under control. He knew that tonight was going to be one of those terrible nights, but he didn’t expect to feel so pathetic and grossed out in his own skin that he wanted to peel it off. All he wanted to do now was to sleep off the incoming headache and get _clean_. It reminded him too much of things he would rather forget. He needed to leave.

When he came back, he excused himself from the table, reasoning that it had been a long two days and he was planning on leaving early tomorrow. It wasn’t convincing with how shaky Keith’s voice was, and how fragile he looked, but his colleagues only nodded. He didn’t bother looking at Sendak for any reaction. He had a limit for how much of Sendak’s ugly face he could look at for one day, and he had greatly exceeded that limit. He’ll deal with any issues from today later.

Keith ignored Sendak’s shouting behind his back as he left, and got into the first cab he found.

It was like a whiplash to leave the restaurant’s environment when he stepped out from the noise of the crowd into the silence of the night, and into the quiet hum of the car as the cab drove down the road. The zip of cars passing calmed him, and the yellow lights passed by his vision every now and then. His face was tucked into the corner of the door and seat as he stared outside, not entirely seeing. Trees passed, sidewalk upon sidewalk following him, and Keith felt his mind going numb at the vision.

 _Good_. At least then he won’t be crying in the cab.

Shiro was still awake at the dinning table in the bungalow and absorbed in his laptop when Keith made his way in. Keith must have been quite the look for Shiro to turn around with a smile on his face, only then to drop said smile and look at him with a pitying look. Keith inhaled – he didn’t need that.

“Hey, you managed to get back early.” Shiro got up to greet as Keith dropped his bag on the couch. There was a cheeriness in his voice that was comforting, but there was that forcefulness in his grin that sat wrong in Keith’s stomach.

And then Shiro was reaching around to pull him into a hug. But Keith felt like he was floating again – but in a bad way. His surroundings didn’t feel quite as real as his brain going frantic at Shiro’s arms going around him. His blood was loud in his ears, and Shiro’s figure casting over his vision was raising alarm bells in his mind, screaming _get away, get away_.

It was ridiculous, but Keith didn’t want to argue about sensibility with his own mind. He jumped back, ducking his head under Shiro’s arms and pulled his arms around himself. Shiro looked at him confusion. “You okay?”

He nodded, hoping that he didn’t look like he wanted to crawl away into the corner of the room and not have to look at anything for at least three days. “Yeah. I’m just… really gross. Don’t wanna get it on you. I’m gonna go shower.”

“Oh… okay.”

Keith skirted away before Shiro could do or say anything else. When he came back to the room, he scurried to the bed and all but threw himself over the bed, not even bothering with the blankets. He hoped Shiro didn’t mind him going to sleep without saying a word. Things were tentative and new between them, and Keith didn’t want this to be something dumb in his head that was going to ruin it.

That was his last thoughts before his eyes began to droop. He barely heard soft footsteps approaching his bedside table to place a glass of water there, and barely registered blanket draping itself over him. He only felt the soft sheets against his skin – it was warm and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some chapter outlines are 3k, some are 5k apparently...  
> Hopefully this chapter isn't too slow.  
> I was gonna write something else for Sheith wedding day but like... i completely lost my ideas after sleeping on it. So have this as consolation instead.
> 
> They finally get tgt WOOOOO!!!  
> Idk when the next chapter is gonna be. Im already on break but crap this month is insane. The lead up to the holidays is such a hustle. 
> 
> Hope you guys liked it. Leave me a comment (if u like). See you soon and happy holidays!


	6. Observation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro and Romelle sees something Keith doesn't.

Shiro woke up to the smell of bread and coffee, and the clicks of knives against wooden chopping boards. His eyes opened slowly to the bright sunlight that was making their claim of the loft’s floorboards, yellow and crisp, which was unexpected for such a late time in the year. Another clack had him whipping his head towards the kitchen, where a sweatered up Keith was bustling around the area as if it were his own kitchen. Shiro finally vaguely noticed the softest sound of an old song he couldn’t quite recognise. 

“Good morning.” He called out. Keith turned in surprise. 

“So the monster rises from its slumber.” Keith smiled back before turning back to his work. He had a little apron on and his sleeve rolled up to his elbows and Shiro’s eyes drifted over the bony wrists, and the veins of his hands, and slender fingers. And while Shiro was of course no Victorian prude, there was just something tantalising by the way Keith was delicately peeling shells of an egg. Shiro gave him a sleepy smile.

The toaster pinged and Keith quickly piled the toasts onto a plate, making his way over to Shiro with a tray piled with food, placing it onto the coffee table and then situating himself on the floor. 

“And the monster gets breakfast in bed!” Shiro pulled himself off the couch and joined him on the floor, gratefully accepting the plate Keith handed him, impressed. “You got all this this morning?”

Keith nodded, ducking his head as he handed him an egg. “Hope you don’t mind hard boiled eggs. They only have these at the convenience store.”

“No runny yolk? The audacity!” Shiro gasped dramatically and was responded with an eyeroll and an endearingly amused smile that Keith tried to hide behind his sip of coffee. Shiro gave him a lopsided smile, biting into the egg without ever leaving Keith’s face.

“So, any plans for the day?” He asked.

Keith’s excitement bubbled over through the words he spoke. The plan was to go through the fish market to buy enough seafood to make Shiro’s mother yell “too much!”, then spend the rest of the day eating through more local delicacies as well as sightseeing wherever they saw fit.

“There’s this cliff that looks out into Kaltor Island and the Marble beach if you’re feeling up for it.” Keith said, scrolling through his phone.

“Where’s that?”

“Somewhere around the rich people’s neighbourhood. Can’t remember the name but one of my friends went there once and said all he wanted was to break into one of those estates just to see how far he could get before some old security guard comes to throw him off the cliff nearby.”

“That’s awfully ambitious.”

“All sarcasm of course.” Keith shrugged. “Knowing him, he’d sooner rob the entire estate before anyone could even get to him.”

“Right. And when would be the appropriate time for me to I start worrying about your very dangerous friends?”

“He doesn’t bite, I promise. And he’s in Altea. Won’t be seeing him any time soon.” Keith laughed.

They ended up spending less than five minutes on the cliff and instead spent most of the morning after the trip to the market to explore the estates and mansions of Marmora’s finest because both were hoes for real estate and good architecture. Most of these were on hilltops, serving its purpose as a summer getaway home to those Shiro would dare to compare to Allura and her family’s conglomerate empire back in Altea – old money, they called it.

Daibazaal does have its own mansions in its outer suburbs, but none had the aesthetics of Marmoran estates. The estates were grand in their white walls and columns, but somehow entirely charming with their wind and sun washed copper-green roofs. A few were renovated and repainted with pastels that made them look if a touch less abandoned than they are.

“That one reminds me of pinwheels.” Keith pointed to a particularly pastel purple one as they drove past. “I used to put up so many pinwheels on the balcony of whatever house we were staying at when we came to Marmora.”

“How old were you the last time you came here?”

“I don’t know – before mom left, so maybe… eight? She left after that summer.” Keith went quiet, staring out into the sea that stretched for miles before them, looking into the distance as if to look for something that was there, or perhaps replaying whatever memory he might have had of this place. Shiro almost wanted to reach out to grab his hand, but then they stayed firmly on the steering wheel, unsure if his presence is wanted.

“You think one of those estates might be the place from your childhood?” He said instead.

“No chance. We’re well off, but we’re not crazy rich, Shiro.”

“Might have been some other house here though?”

Keith shrugged. “Maybe, but even if we did have a house here, it would probably have been under my mom’s name.”

Shiro nodded. “Would you go there if it existed?”

Keith thought for a while before shrugging, staring out the window again. That told Shiro to change the topic.

It reminded him a bit of Keith yesterday – closed off and skittish at Shiro’s presence in the room. Shiro prided himself in being rather easy to be around, and a good reader of people. Keith, he had learned, wore his heart on his sleeves. He responds to the things around him easily, his emotions bleed into his actions that were caused by things around him. He was mad at Shiro for being confusing hence he was rather curt on the morning that they got here. He was happy and open when things start to resolve between them.

Last night was Keith in a way Shiro had never seen: pale, tired and almost scared. He couldn’t even begin to predict what could have prompted such an intense reaction.

“Oh, look at those!” Keith pointed to the window, where pastel coloured wooden huts lined the beach. “What do you think those are for?”

He was more talkative today, a little less kitten-like, more steady-footed. But there was a distance that he kept that Shiro was trying to respect. It was hard, when all he wanted to do was ask, to make sure he was alright.

He said after a while. “Smurfs.”

And then Keith was turning to him with a funny look. “Smurfs? Honestly?”

“What?”

“How old are you? A hundred? Who even thinks about Smurfs anymore?” He chuckled.

“I may or may not have gotten obsessed with one of those Smurf mobile games that came out a while back.” Shiro was trying to learn coordination in his newly gained prosthetic post-accident. It was an unexpected obsession and he told Keith as such – leaving out the last bit. Keith threw his head back in a light-hearted laugh.

Keith made them stop for photos by the huts, deeming Shiro his muse despite Shiro’s insistence that he wasn’t photogenic. But Shiro was weak for him, especially the way that Keith’s tied back hair is flying in the wind, camera in hand.

“Are you kidding me? You? Not photogenic?” Keith snapped a shot. “Shiro, people could be jerking off to that picture of you on the newspaper that one time.”

Shiro felt himself flushing from head to toe. He had also come to learn that Keith can be incredibly creative with his compliments and swears, and he tried his best to not think of the implications, or the image of perhaps Keith having such a reaction to his photos. “Which one?”

 _Snap_. “I think it might have been a picture of you in uniform. You had black hair then.”

“An absolute baby, then?”

 _Snap_. Keith looked up from his camera. “And rather dashing, I’d say.”

Shiro turned away with a pleased smile, looking to the sky.

 _Snap_. He turned back to Keith, who was grinning at him. “I think that might be my favourite shot of you.”

 _And this is my favourite view of you_ , he wanted to say – Keith with his hair clipped back and blowing in the wind with his cheeks dusted and happy. He wanted to say it but held it in his heart until it warmed him instead. And it seemed easier, this way, to let Keith find his gravity around Shiro the way he wanted.

Shiro let him loop his arm around his as they walked along the beach and let him hide behind his hulking figure as the wind picked up, throwing sand into the air like the night before. The weather wasn’t the best to go swimming as it was still freezing, but the strange sun they had today made them bold enough to dip their toes in the water, splashing each other until the bottom of their rolled-up trousers were soaking and they were yelling and laughing in the sand.

Keith’s laughter was like bells, if someone were to ask him what it sounded like. Like the spirit of festivity and the happiness combined into a sound that made you grin – contagious in the best way. Shiro found himself drawing closer, close enough to kiss those lips and touch that wind-swept hair. And perhaps it wasn’t Keith that was gravitating around him, but it was Shiro that found himself following Keith, orbiting his laughter and overflowing heart.

Shiro held his own heart in his hand and handed it to him on a silver plate.

“Thanks for coming with me this weekend. I really, _really_ appreciated it.” Keith told him, fiddling slightly with the handle of his luggage as they stood before Keith’s apartment complex.

“I’ll admit I might have had my own personal motives.”

“Yeah?” Keith raised an eyebrow. “Well, thank God you did. Don’t think I would have survived dealing with Sendak by myself those two days without you cheering me up with food after.”

“Nah, you’re tougher than that, I’ve seen it.” Shiro said, hand reaching for his shoulder with a gentle squeeze.

“Thanks.” Keith placed his hand atop Shiro’s. “Really.”

Gratefulness was a trait Shiro had seen many times on Keith, the most startling being the one time they had both gotten tipsy and Keith spilled more words than Shiro could decipher in its entirety in his state. He only guessed a bit of what Keith had gone through since his father’s death, and it seemed that life had been less than gentle to him, much like it hasn’t been for Shiro’s in recent years. But his gaze here, soft, appreciative and adoring, somehow made Shiro ache with the need to give back, to take Keith’s hand and somehow dissolve the tension and struggles that existed in such a quiet person.

Because Keith was bold in his actions, in his words and in his heart, but he was quiet in his rebellion and in his issues. And what happened that night, after he came back to the loft, smelling of beer and acrid cigarette smoke, Shiro didn’t want to find him that scarily quiet and afraid again.

“Can I ask you a question?” Shiro said.

Keith tilted his head. “Sure?”

“Will you ever consider quitting your current place?”

Keith turned away from him in thought before turning back, with an audible sigh. It looked like something he had thought about without ever coming up with a solution for. Shiro retracted his hand from Keith’s shoulder, and Keith lets him.

“I have thought about it, once or twice. But I just… don’t know where I would go. I’ve been here since undergrad and I just… I was just so lucky to have gotten in at all since I only had a diploma at the time, barely an actual degree.”

“You were good in paramedicine, weren’t you?”

“No, I was flunking my second year.”

Shiro shook his head. “That was special circumstances. Your dad died. You loved it before that. Ryou told me.”

“What does it matter now?”

“Have you ever considered going back? You were almost done with it.”

“I was losing my passion for it.”

“Were you? Or is that something you’ve been telling yourself to make it hurt less when you dropped out.”

Keith opened his mouth as if to retort but found himself stuck for words. He closed it and turned away instead. Shiro knew what that felt like to find yourself at a seemingly bottomless pit – like the countless days after he loss his arm that he spent telling himself he would be happy with just a mere desk job and never being able to fly a spaceship again. They were all lies they told themselves, like empty consolations that were rather poor coping mechanisms that barely did much to close the gaping wounds of loss.

“It doesn’t matter.” Keith attempted a wry smile. “Don’t you think we’re a bit old to be musing about those kinds of things.”

“Never.” Shiro affirmed. “It’s never too late to follow your passion, Keith.”

Keith huffed and shook his head, but his words were more sad than cynical. “I don’t have a passion.”

“Keith-“

“ _Don’t_ , Shiro. Don’t give me hope about things I can’t control. Please.”

Shiro closed his mouth. Keith was dejected about his past, and miserable in his present. And it wasn’t Shiro’s business to tell him what to do with his life, much like how his mother couldn’t tell Shiro what to do with Shiro’s life. But it sucked, nonetheless, to see a flower grow thorns.

Keith turned away and looked into the distance. Shiro swore his eyes were glassy in the yellow streetlight, and it made his insides stir in guilt. He leaned down and placed a kiss on Keith’s cheek instead. Keith stared at him, surprised.

“I just want you to be happy. And you were happiest when you were following something that excited you.” He pressed a smile. “At least that’s my observation. But… you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Keith gave a pathetic attempt of a shrug, eyes darting to the ground and back up. Then he grabbed his luggage and walked into the apartment, but not before giving Shiro a kiss on his lips and a soft goodnight.

Shiro didn’t bring back the topic for a while, purely because work had started to pick up for Shiro as the semester was coming to an end and Keith himself didn’t look as if he was fairing any better at his office. But then when Shiro asked, Keith reassured him that work was as dull as ever.

Keith left him with a peck and entered his apartment to find Romelle sprawled on his couch and drinking his beer. He was barely surprised - some days the apartment was more hers than his, considering how he was constantly at work and how she was also constantly hoarding his better wi-fi for whatever show she was bingeing at the time.

“You’re home early for once.” She said in surprise, eyes still glued to her laptop as Keith shuffled around his apartment, changing out of his clothes in the bathroom and getting his own glass of water to sit down beside he, peeking at the laptop.

Blood splattered across the screen and screams blasted through the speakers. Keith shrugged, finishing his water and refilling the glass with whatever that was left of Romelle’s beer can. “Slow week.”

“It isn’t slow if you’re coming home at the appropriate hour.”

Keith shrugged again, downing the drink. The apartment was silent apart from the show playing on Romelle’s small laptop.

“You shouldn’t drink before you’ve eaten.” She remarked.

“I did eat.”

“Oh? With your coworkers?”

“With Shiro, actually.” Keith slipped, and realised it the moment that the words left his mouth – damn him for being honest all the time. Romelle sat up straighter on the couch, turning to him with interest.

“With Shiro.” She repeated. “Are you guys like… a thing now?”

Keith blinked. _Yes_ , he wanted to say. But there was a nagging in his gut, a seed of doubt that was gnawing at his insides telling him that it was bad to talk about it when it is so early into their newly blossomed relationship. He wouldn’t even know where to begin with this story, and he wasn’t prepared to talk about it yet, not without making it seem so much bigger than what it currently is. He didn’t need her to be invested yet, at least until he felt that he was invested enough. Didn’t they say it was jinxing it to talk about a relationship early as well?

“Hell no.” He shook his head. “We’re just friends.” And he took a sip of beer to avoid talking.

Romelle took the dismissal with a _look_ , and a slight sneer, “Hm, alright.”

He was shit at lying, and she definitely did not believe him, but she let it go and plopped back onto the couch. They let the silence wash over them, focusing on the show instead. But then she spoke again.

“You know, you should take him out.”

“Who? Shiro?”

“No, attorney James Griffin.” She rolled her eyes sarcastically. _“Of course, Shiro_. Who else?”

“Don’t you think that would be awkward? Since we’ve known his family for so long.”

“Shoudn’t that make it less awkward? Since they know we’re good people.”

Keith feigned nonchalance. “Can’t imagine trying to make Ryou understand it.”

“It doesn’t matter what they think. People will just have to learn to adapt to what you give them.” Romelle shrugged. “And besides, he seems like the kind of guy you need.”

“And what kind of guy would that be?” Keith snorted.

“The kind of guy that believes in the goodness in people. The kind of guy that believes in you and sees your worth.” She hummed, rocking her head side to side. “They’re hard to come by.”

Keith blinked, struck by how accurate her words were. Shiro was – truly – someone he had never come across, someone with a kindness that poured through everything that he did, who paid attention to other’s capabilities and potentials. He recognised it in Keith so long ago when they were barely adults, and he recognised it again now. Shiro’s words from the other night came back to him, the words replaying in his head again.

_You were happiest when you were following something that excited you._

But excitement doesn’t pay bills. Keith forced a dry chuckle. “Is that your observation of Shiro after meeting him twice?”

“I have a keen eye for these kind of things.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean I should be expecting to take dad’s knife out of the closet some time soon?”

He yelped and ducked just in time as she threw an empty can of beer at his head. She flipped him off and kicked him towards the fridge to get them more snacks as the next episode loaded.

“Midori invited us over for dinner this weekend, by the way.”

Keith’s hand stilled on the handle of the fridge. He kept his voice still, despite the terror running through his mind. “Yeah?”

“She wanted a big family dinner since it’s been a while since we’re all back in the city together.”

A family dinner with Shiro, Ryou, Romelle and Shiro’s parents. That seemed normal enough for friends to eat at their friends’ house. But now it felt like another challenge that would have the most terrifying consequence if they failed. Shiro’s parents would find out. Romelle and Ryou would find out. And Keith doesn’t want to deal with their reactions yet.

Keith was silent as he brought the snacks back, decidedly focused on the screen to distract him from his running thoughts. But his skin prickled as he felt Romelle watching him, reading something in his expression. “What?” He asked.

Romelle gave him a strange look, but then she shrugged, saying nothing as she pulled her screen up higher and they watched in silence. Keith let the dread in his stomach settle to the white noise in his ears. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally had to rewrite this chapter opening like 3 times because word doc is like “i don’t like autosaving for you” and i kept losing the entire thing every time I put my computer to sleep like bruh why you do this.
> 
> Sorry this is so short, but hey at least i started the next chapter already! BRB with that in like... idek when. Maybe next week? maybe in three months time? I honestly don't know.  
> Oh and i realised after I wrote this that there are these really pretty Shiros from [Sa's](https://twitter.com/LStrikesArt) that literally looks like the photo that Keith took in this chap. Find it [here](https://lightningstrikes-art.tumblr.com/post/183108082159/hes-looking-at-keith) and [here](https://twitter.com/LStrikesArt/status/1159818859555115008) (i scoured twitter for these, plz go look at them

**Author's Note:**

> HMU on [Tumblr](https://meapistrash.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/imbabyplzbekind).


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